Running Forever
by Mew-Sahara
Summary: -23 up!- Sahara must run to keep from getting captured and being tested on. While running away she ends up in the hands of the Mews. Chaos ensues. Will the insanity never end? First fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Hello it's my first story! I'm young and so I'm not good with the whole writing thing. No flames when you review please.

I'm new to this whole thing…

**I DO NOT OWN TOKYO MEW MEW! I OWN MY CHACTERS THOUGH!**

"No, I must keep running," though Sahara. _I can't let those people get me._ _Who knows what they'll do next…_

Sahara sighed and kept running. She was quite fast for her age of 11. _Those scientists will just do more scary tests on me. I can't have that happen._

She suddenly heard more yelling coming from not far behind her. She immediately dived into an alleyway to hide. The voices got closer and closer. She pushed herself against the nearest trashcan to try and conceal her.

Sahara did yet another thing wrong that would cost her. She pushed too hard on the trashcan and it toppled over. The voices yelled, " SHE'S IN THE ALLEY! GET HER!" Sahara got up and ran down the alley and jumped over the two men who where coming to get her. They gasped and started yelling again about following her.

Sahara ran so fast that she ended in the back of a museum. She suddenly noticed a little café in the corner. The sign read Café Mew Mew and was pink. Sahara stared in wonder at it until she heard yelling again. She ran toward the café but didn't notice a very important thing in the way. Stairs.

Sahara was running so fast that when she got to the top of the stairs she tripped and fell down them with a scream. When she hit the bottom of the stairs there was a crack of bone and black surrounded her.

IN CAFÉ

Ichigo sighed as she swept the floor as the café was being closed for the day. Pudding was swinging from the ceiling dusting way up there. Lettuce was also sweeping but kept dropping the broom. Mint had already left so that she could get ready for her Japanese dancing lesson. Zackuro had also left for a talk show she was going to be in.

Ryou walked into the room and observed the scene. He watched Pudding swinging trough the air. He suddenly called out, "PAY DAY! Come get your check!" Everyone in the café cheered. They rushed over to Ryou to get them. Pudding was jabbering about what candy she would buy.

Just as Ryou pulled out the checks there was a very loud scream. Everyone looked around to see who it was, but it was no one in the café. Lettuce murmured, "It must be from outside!" As she notified everyone of this Pudding skipped to the door and opened it to she if she could see who had screamed.

When she opened the door she herself screamed. "THERE IS A GIRL OUTTHERE, NA NO DA!" Everyone crowded to the door to see if Pudding was telling the truth,

And Pudding was. At the end of a staircase going down to the level that the café was at lay a young girl. Pudding, Ichigo, and Lettuce rushed over to the girl to see more of the scene. "Are legs supposed to bend that way, na no da," Pudding asked Ichigo. "No, Pudding, they aren't…" The girl also had a small pool of blood surrounding her. Lettuce bent down and checked her pulse. "There is a faint pulse," Lettuce said, "she must have fallen and knocked herself out." "Ryou can we bring her inside," begged Pudding. Ryou sighed and answered yes but someone had to stay with her. "She'll need medical attention so I'll ask Keriichio to look her over." All the Mew Mews volunteered to spend the night. "It'll be a mini sleepover, na no da," cried Pudding. (A/N. They all magically got permission from their parents.)

"We'll carry her up to a room on the second floor, ok Ryou?" Ryou replied yes. So the mew mews all lifted and carried poor Sahara through the doors of the café.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Thanks!

Cookie for everyone who reviews! A viral cookie that is. I am having a contest. I am having Sahara getting a R2006 later. It will be in a monkey form. That is not her form. (It will me another animal, hint, hint.) Anyway if you have an idea for a name or a better animal shape please tell me!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 of FOREVER RUNNING**

**Hello peoples! I have returned! I got many great ideas from people like a bird and a penguin called Satari. I'm gonna give you a hint about Sahara's animal, it tells you on my info page. FYI I want to have a brown monkey called Frappicino, but I'll take any ideas. I also am going to do an R for everyone in the mews so get ready for more names. I'll have Sahara do the d-thingy for us!**

Sahara: She no own them mew mews. She owns nothing (almost) but ME. She owns me and David. David will come later.** NO STEAL IDEAS. YOU MUST ASK ME FIRST.**

**Let's begin peoples. I gots to hurry cause I multi-tasking. Homework and this. This wins. THIS CHAPPIE IS FOR ANYONE WHO REVIEWED INCLUDING, imsocrazy, Tomoyo Kinomoto, and Meow55. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!**

As everyone had gotten permission (Mint came but Zackuro couldn't) to go to the sleepover, everyone went home and packed. Pudding convinced a neighbor to watch her siblings while she was at the café. When everyone had arrived Ryou grudgingly gave up a room for them to stay in. Gossiping and munching on snacks late into the night, people regularly checked in on the girl. She had not woken up even when Pudding smacked her gong and Kerichiio (sorry if that's the wrong spelling) bandaged her leg. It had been broken rather badly and was hard to bandage the leg up. As the girl had not woken the girls had a great time giggling and joking around.

"Let's play truth or dare na no da," cried Pudding. Everyone agreed even a reluctant Mint. "It's too uncivilized," she stated. After much tickling from Pudding and Ichigo she finally agreed. Lettuce went first. "Ok, Lettuce," said Mint, "truth or dare?" "Dare," Lettuce whispered. Mint got an evil grin on her face. "Go get Ryou's underwear and draw smiley faces on them with a permenant marker!" "WHAT," everyone yelled. Mint just smiled. Lettuce turned green, then blue, and finally white as she stood up. "All right," she said faintly, " I'll do it." 5 minutes later every pair of underwear had a smiley face on it. Blushing franticly Lettuce snuck back in Ryou's room and stuffed them in the drawer. On the way back she looked in on Sahara. No movement.

Back in the room everyone played with Pudding doing a dare to go steal cakes from the kitchen to eat. She got very hyper but fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Mint revealed she liked cheese. (A/N Whada ya expect? I'm from Wisconsin!) And Ichigo revealed she slept with a toy cat. Nobody believed that was her best secret. Everyone fell into a deep sleep.

IN RYOU'S ROOM

Ryou stared at his underwear. "I'll never let them sleep over here again…"

NEXT MORNING

The next morning everyone awoke exuashed. Everyone expect Pudding who as always was hyper. Pudding went to check on Sahara. Still no sign of movement. She reported back to everyone. "She hasn't moved at all. Will she ever wakeup na no da?" Nobody knew the answer. Lettuce reassured her, "She'll have to wake up eventually." Ryou then entered the room. "Because of last nights acts you all have to work today." Everyone screamed their displeasure, while Ichigo fell to the floor having a spaz attack and was foaming at the mouth.

An hour later business was once again in motion. Ichigo running around yelling at Mint to get going. Pudding swinging from the ceiling and performing tricks for the costumers. Lettuce breaking dishes left and right. All in a normal day.

UP STAIRS

Sahara groaned and began to stir. She yinced in pain and….

**Mhahahahahahahah! Cliffie! I lub cliffies. I may swear in later on chappies. Tell me in your reviews if you think I should or not. Anyway pretty please! The button calls to you… Check out New Mew Training Camp for more on Sahara. It's also a very good story. IT'S NOT MINE THOUGH. Review peoples. Contest too! Do the contest, I desperately need ideas for S2006. S stands for Sahara. I got that from Ms. Tomoyo Kinomoto. Read her stories they're good! Ta-ta for now. Chappies will get better I promise if I get reviews.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello peoples it's me yet again. I'm now going to respond to the reviews I've gotten. One more thing, I'm really sorry imsocrazy but I couldn't update to your new story 'cause the reviewing and e-mailing thing won't work! ARGH I HATE IT! I CAN"T EVEN UPDATE! ARGH! Anyway here are your reviews. Sorry if it's not so long. I have a school thing tonight and a HUGE project due on Monday! ARGH AGAIN!**

animegoddess12345: Good ideas for the S20006. I'm ON YOUR FAVORITES LIST! WHOOT! It won't be a full sized monkey or snake, just a very small one. Yes I want to be your bestest friend. My e-mail is I can't email you cause the site is being weird.

Tomoyo Kinomoto: Yes, Sahara will like David-kun. I based him on a boy I like. I don't really want to name it after him but ya never know. Yes she will have more spaz attacks. Yeah. Brown and blonde will be the colors. Yep.

Malaya (): Very good names. I did a monkey cause… Well you'll see later on. Sorry about it being so short…

**Here we go after Sahara says the disclaim.**

She doesn't own us go no suing. BURN! YOU CAN"T SUE US! MUAHHAHAH! She does own me and David so no stealy.

**Off we go, ho ho ho. I suck at rhyming.**

** IN SAHARA"S ROOM**

Sahara sat up and winced in pain. She threw off her covers to see what hurt so bad. Her leg was covered in bandages and had bled a bit on the bed. She looked around. 'Where the crap am I?' She suddenly bolted out of bed with a loud clunk. 'They must have gotten me and locked me in here. I gotta get out!'

At that precise moment Ryou was climbing the stair to check on her. There were many customers and he heard a loud clunk so was going to check it out. He went over to the door and pushed it open. Standing there looking at him in shock was the girl. Wearing a short-sleeved brown dirty shirt, ripped Capri jeans and no shoes. She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair. And multi colored eyes. Weren't they green when he walked in? Now they were red… Her voice broke his thoughts.  
"WHO THE CRAP ARE YOU! YOU'RE NOT A SCIENCETIST! Plus if you were you wouldn't be wearing that crap." (A/N No jhis clothes are not really crappy, but what would you say to a guy who walked into your room suddenly?) "For your information I am a sciencetist and I wear what I want," retorted Ryou. "If you're going to do any crazy experiments do it now. Check my eye color to see if your experiment worked, do whatever. But before you do I have something to say." "Oh," said Ryou. "You're a complete idiot locking me in a room with a window. Chaio!" With that she ran over to the window, threw it open, and jumped out of it. Ryou ran after he and saw her land ackwardly. Right on her broken leg. It bucked beneath her but she pushed herself up and ran for it. "You're crazy," yelled Ryou. She took no notice and kept running/limping away. Ryou suddenly realized that was the same direction Pudding had gone to get supplies.

Ryou raced down stairs and yelled at the girls to close the café. They shooed everyone out the door and rushed over to Ryou. "What's the matter," asked Mint, "I was enjoying my tea." "You know that girl you guys found," Ryou asked. Everyone (All mews there. Not Berry or RIngo. They're not in my story. Mr. K is in the kitchen and didn't hear the call. And Pudding. She's getting supplies.) nodded. "Well she just jumped out the window and ran the way Pudding went when she left. Now I'm gonna ask Pudding to try and catch her." Everyone yelled WHAT and looked at him like this: Oo. With that Ryou raced down to the basement and yelled into a small device, "Pudding, can you hear me? If you can I want you to come back here and on the way back look for a girl. She has a brown dirty T-shirt and torn Capri jeans. She has no shoes, shoulder length dirty down hair and multicolored eyes. Got that all?" "Yep, Ryou, I do na no da! I look for her and bring her back na no da," yelled Pudding. Everyone was down stairs now (Even Mr. K) and was waiting. Ichigo asked, "Pudding do you have Masha with you? We can look even farther with him." Pudding replied, "Yes I do na no da. I'll turn him on." With a blink the screen turned on and they could see Pudding's face. "Now, go look for the girl, Pudding," Ryou commanded. "'Tay na no da," said Pudding.

WITH PUDDING

"Let's go look for the girl Masha-chan na no da!" "TWEET!" Pudding was pushing a wheelbarrow of supplies along with her. She told Masha to go up higher in the air and look for the girl. All at once Masha began tweeting and zipping around in the air. "GIRL GIRL, GIRL!" He cried! "You found her na no da!" Masha kept tweeting. "Show me na no da!"

WITH SAHARA

'That was some really freaky dude back there.' Sahara thought, 'He was a scientist though and I have to keep away from him' Her thought were suddenly interrupted by a small blonde haired kid swung into her path. She hit Sahara and she fell over onto the ground. "PUDDING'S HERE TO STOP YOU NA NO DA," yelled the girl. From the ground came a reply, "Your even worse then the blonde haired freak back there." "He's my boss, and he said to bring you back na no da!" "HE RECRUITS KIDS! Man that guy IS a jerk. Where do you work for him, does he make you do experiments on kids like me," questioned Sahara. "I work at a café, and he own it na no da!" "It's possible to sink low enough to use a café as a cover? Man that's REALLY sad. Not to mention recruiting kids," Sahara muttered. She was then yanked onto her feet by the Pudding girl and was pushed forward. "Let's go na no da!" "NO I'M NOT GOING WITH YOU! I'M A FREAK ENOUGH WITH YOU MAKING MY EYES CHANGE WITH MY MOOD, SO NO, No, NO, NO!" Sahara eyes were red and a bit a green.

IN THE LAB

Everyone had listened to this outburst with shock. 'So that's why her eye color changed,' though Ryou. Suddenly Lettuce tripped and hit a large red button. Ryou yelled and said, "THAT TRIGGERED A NEW MEW MEW RELEASE! THERE ARE GOING TO BE MORE MEWs NOW!" Lettuce apologized profusely while everyone else was asking questions. But no one paid any attention to the screen until they heard a scream. The girl on the screen had a very fast needle fly at her and hit her arm. She screamed then fell to the ground, unconscious.

**MUAHAHAHAHAHA! ANOTHER CLIFFIE! I hope you liked it and it will be long enough. Pretty please review. Until late SAHARA-CHAN OUT! **

**PS Contest is still going for all chacters S and R2006's. Hurry and enter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I AM BACK! YEAHNESS! is STILL down so I'm writing another chappie. YEAH! Anyway my leg hurts like nuts cause I danced so much last night. I had a soccer gamer today too. Stupid project is still going and I found so info about what I'm looking for so that's helpful. Thanks you again to my reviewers, even though I haven't posted a new chappie as this is chappie 4. I'll get #3 out before this of course. Anyway I will continue with the d-word and get on with this bad story, yo. Peace out.**

**Diclaim: I. DO. NOT. OWN. Get it? Got it? Good.**

Nobody had noticed the needle sink into Sahara's arm expect for herself and Pudding. Everyone in the lab was busy quarreling. Pudding gasped when she saw it go into her arm and her scream and fall to the ground. She immediately ran over to the girl and saw she was unconscious. She quickly said to Ryou, "What do I do na no da?" Ryou though and said, "Pudding drag her to the wheelbarrow and bring her back here. We'll then check out what made her faint." Pudding started to try to tell him what she saw but he said, "Now. Please now." She then pushed the wheelbarrow over to Sahara and pulled her into it. "I'll be there in a moment na no da." She started running toward the café, excited to tell them what she saw happen to Sahara.

Ryou sighed as did everyone else. Lettuce suggested they all go up stairs and wait for Pudding. Everyone nodded and they all climbed up the stairs and to the front door. Pudding was seen dashing incredibly fast toward them. She stopped so fast in front of them Sahara half tumbled out. "I'm here na no da!" Rain began to pour down and soak everyone so Ryou went and up picked Sahara up and brought her inside (A/N it's raining down. I like rain). "You know she's much lighter then you, Ichigo," Ryou stated. Ichigo had yet another spaz attack this one shorter and she was standing up. She looked like she was having a seizure. Mint thumped her hared on the back and she snapped out of the attack. "Bring her upstairs," said Zakuro. Ryou carried Sahara up the stairs and into another bedroom. This one had no windows.

Ryou then asked the question that needed to be answered, "Did anyone see what happened to her?" Everyone excluding Pudding shook his or her heads no. "ME ME ME I KNOW NA NO DA," cried Pudding, "She was yelling at me and then this needle came out of nowhere and hit her. She screamed and fell down. She got hit on her arm right there." Pudding pointed at the place where the needle hit. The needle was still in there so Ryou yanked it out. Sahara flinched in her unconsciousness.

SAHARA'S MIND

After I fainted every thing went black again. Really black. I got sort of scared. Then I suddenly found my self in what seemed like a desert. All this sand was blowing around me. I noticed I was undressed and immediately tried to cover myself. I heard a rattling noise and looked down. There was a rattlesnake looking at me curiously. If that's even possible. 'New Mexico ridgenosed rattlesnake.' That name flashed threw my head. At that moment I decided to pick the snake up. The only problem as is soon as I did it went into my arm. Everything went black all over again.

IN SAHARA'S ROOM

A red spot formed where Ryou had yanked the needle out. The red then faded away into a brown mark that looked like this (:). Everyone excluding Ryou and Mr. K (A/N I call him that 'cause I'm too lazy to look up his name) gasped. Mint said, "Is she a new mew?" "Yep she's the girl hit by the needle that was sent when Lettuce hit the button," said Ryou. Lettuce flushed red and started apologizing again. Mr. K then said, "I'm going to have to do some tests, but here's then problem. She had to be awake for it to work. Ryou stared at him like he was crazy (he is). "She jumped out a window the last time I was in the same ROOM as her. You think I can get her to agree to tests? Your just crazy." "You're going to have to find a way. I'll go get the stuff now." Ryou turned around to ask for some help but everyone had fled.

Sahara groaned loudly and started to stir. Ryou then yelled very loudly for someone to get their butt in her because the girl was waking up. All the girls came in and just stood there. Ryou growled and walked over to the bed.

SAHARA'S POV

I groaned loudly and heard some weird person yelling. I tried to sit up but was held down. I opened my eyes to end up looking into a pair of blue eyes. Who did they belong to? The crazy freak who employed little kids. He was holding down my arms so I couldn't move my upper body. Both of my legs hurt too much to move. That's what I get for jumping out the window. Then blonde says, "I didn't get introduce myself last time. I am Ryou Shirogane. I own this café. What's your name?" I swore and said, "My name is Sahara. I have no last name I will tell YOU. You should know it though you freak. I have a request though. GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!" He smirked, "Sorry can't do that. And you'll tell me what your last name is or what happens next will be more painful than it has to be." I grimaced, "Fine my last name is Sohma . You happy? NOW GET OFF ME!" "Nope." I moved my head so I could look to see what was happening. A group of girls was standing there. They all had strange colors of hair. Except for that Pudding-girl. She was normal. Sort of. I decided to have so fun with them. (A/N Not like THAT! You know) "You, red head, get over there," I said motioning with my head. She looked at me strangely but did what I said. "You, Pudding-girl, get over by reddy." "You, Miss green, go stand next to Pudding." "And you, blue girl. Go stand by Miss Green." She opened her mouth to protest but I said, "Do it and you'll still get to stand next to Miss Purple." She obeyed. Miss Purple glared at me and I said, "If you want me to call you by your name, then tell me." "Zakuro," she stated. "Thanks for you guys listening for me. Just stay there now." Reddy asked, "Why did you tell us to move?" "So you guys would be in color order according to hair color." She looked at me strange again. "Now if you Mr. Blondey," I said sweetly, "Will go stand by Pudding you'll be in order. Then I can get up and leave and you'll all be happy. I color order. Lucky you." He retorted, "I'm not stupid you know. I'm not moving."

He did not know but as he said that I got the feeling back in one of my legs. I grinned and replied; "Now you'll have to." I swung my leg up as hard as I could right into him. I liked doing that. He fell to the ground swearing. But sadly by the time I managed to sit up I was being held down again. This time by Zakuro on my arms, Miss Green, Pudding, Reddy, and Blue held down my legs. I winced again. "Not so hard. Gosh." I decided not to wiggle so much when they were holding me down. Ryou stood up, glared at me and held my arms again. This time he held harder. I could tell that he didn't like me very much. Good. That's the way I wanted it. Zakuro backed off and stood in a corner. Mint and Pudding let go of my legs and went to stand by her. At that moment I heard whistling and a guy walk in the room. He was holding a box. And a shot. My eyes turned green. A bit red as well. He introduced his self as Keiichiro Akasaka (I LOOKED IT UP! YEAHNESS!). He told me he would be taking some blood samples. Also it wouldn't hurt that much. My eyes turned greener. I began to struggle as he approached me. He began to ask me questions about my life to calm me down. He asked, "What's your name, age, family, who was chasing you, and any friends?" I glared at him and said, "You should have this all on record but I guess I'll tell you again. Name? Sahara Sohma. (THANKS TO MewKoneko-chan1 for the last name! Her story is Beyond the Boundaries and is very good. Check it out.) I like to be called Sahra. But not by you guys. Age? 11. Family? None. All dead." I winched as the needle went into my skin. "Friends? None. Never made any no thanks to you. Who was chasing me? Your organization. Area 61 that specializes in testing on humans. Why were you chasing me? 'Cause I escaped." I winched again. "Stop please. Now. So I can go away from you." He pulled away from me. Everyone who was holding still held me down. Ryou then called Zakuro to hold me down. She came over and held my arms instead of Ryou. Ryou then went over to Keiichiro and whispered something in his ear. Keiichiro nodded, took his needle, and put something in it. My stomach dropped. Something bad was going to happen. Ryou whispered what was going to happen into everyone's ears but my own. Keiichiro came over and told me, "This shot will hurt a bit more, and then after I give it to you you'll black out. OK?" I shook my head no, but to no avail. He came over and stuck the needle in my arm. I cried out with pain. My entire arm ached. Suddenly the world around me got a swirly. 'I'm going to black out,' said my mind, 'great.' I was pulled into a standing position. I could hear some people calling my name. My legs collapsed underneath me and I crumpled. Then everything went black.

IN BEDROOM

After Keiichiro had given Sahara then shot and pulled her into a standing position, she began to sway. Her leg gave out from underneath her and she crumpled right into Keiichiro. Ryou then said, "Well that will keep her out like a light into tomorrow. You guys can all go home now. Be back here at 11:00 sharp, yes you too, Ichigo, so we can open. Sahara will be out until about 2:00. We'll close then and try and convince her we're not bad and to join the team. Now off with you." With that everyone left. Ryou and Keiichiro went down to the lab to check out Sahara's blood samples to see what animal she was infused with. The computer beeped after 10 minutes of searching and said, "DNA: Human 85 New Mexico ridgenose rattlesnake 10 Other 5"

Keiichiro wondered and said, "The other 5 must be from when those people tested on her. I wonder what they did to her that really made her so afraid. Well I'm going to bed, good night." Ryou said, "I'll come with you." They both went up stairs again and said good night. All would be well until 11:00 sharp the next day.

**OMG! Really long chappie! And another chappie! MUAHAHAHAHA! I think every chapter will end like that. This took me 3 days to write and took up 5 word pages. Well anyway I have to get back to homework. I also made this a longer chappie because I GOT A 97 ON MY MATH QUIZ! YEAHNESS! Please review. Hurry and put in your ideas for the S2006. I've decided that the shape will be a snake with wings. A cartoon snake with wings. I need names and color. It'll probably be brown though (hint, hint). Anyway for now SAHARA-SAN OUT!**

**P.S. The next chappie will possible have a song in it! Toodles! **


	5. Chapter 5

Running Forever

**Hello! I am updating yet again. I do it a lot, eh? I am having a song in this chappie. It's called "Here I Go Again". It's by a band called Whitesnake. Go to and type in Here I Go Again and the music video. Go there before reading because the fact that the song reminds me of a lonely person. So this song is for Sahara. YO PEOPLES WHO REVIEWED! THIS CHAPPIE IS FOR YOU! YEAHNESS! Sorry if the last chappie was too long. Anyway after the disclaim we can get started!**

**Bold: ME!**

**(BOLD OR NOT): ME!**

_**Song: lyrics of song.**_

Story: story

**_SAHARA_**: Mew-Sahara doesn't own this song or Tokyo Mew Mew. Get that through your brains. SO now you can't sue us government peoples! BURN!

**HERE WE GO AGAIN!**

The next morning at 11 0'clock sharp everyone on the Mew team showed up for work. As always Ichigo was late. Ryou sent everyone inside and opened the café. The girls got dressed in their uniforms and began a regular day at work. Ichigo going spastic, Pudding acting like Tarzan, Zakuro scaring customers, Mint drinking tea and getting yelled at, and Lettuce slipping, spilling, and breaking things. Keiichiro baked and Ryou did… Whatever he did…

SAHARA'S ROOMAND POV  
I woke up in that room again. It was about 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Before I fainted I heard Ryou say I would be out until 2. He was wrong. I think with all the stuff the scientists did to me made the knockout stuff not as effective. I decided then I would run away again. Down the only path I knew. Running away is what I was very used to.

_I don't know where I'm goin _

_but I sure know where I've been _

_hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday. _

_An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time _

_but here I go again, here I go again. _

I snuck out of the room because luckily the door was unlocked. I had had a pillow and stuck in under the covers to look like I was under it. I creped down the hall until I found another room. It looked like Ryou's room. I looked down at my feet and crept into his room to steal some shoes. I looked for a while and found some strange underwear. They had smiley faces on them. Ryou is VERY weird. Very.

_Tho' I keep searching for an answer _

_I never seem to find what I'm looking for. _

_Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on _

_'cos I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams. _

I finally found some brown boots about my size. I looked around the room again. It was really bare. I couldn't have survived in a bare room like this. I sighed and began my way down the back stairway. I took each stair at a time. Here I go again, down the only way I know to get away from my problems. Running Forever.

_Here I go again on my own _

_goin' down the only road I've ever known. _

_Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. _

_An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time. _

As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs I made yet another mistake. I sighed. Loudly. Pudding was walking down the hall and saw me. She said, "Hi, it seems your up, na no da! But your supposed to stay in your room,na no da. Are you running away again, na no da?" She got no answer. I was down the hall and through the café into a line of customers, and out the front door. I heard Pudding yelling at Ryou that I got away. I just kept running. I wanted rescue from my stupid life.

_Just another heart in need of rescue _

_waiting on love's sweet charity _

_an' I'm gonna hold on for the rest of my days _

_'cos I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams. _

IN CAFÉ

Pudding yelled to Ryou to tell the other mew that Sahara had gotten out and run away again. Ryou rushed into action. He told all the Mew team and said he would watch the café, but they should follow Sahara and get her. And hurry. The girls nodded and ran out the back. They transformed and ran in the direction Sahara ran.

SAHARA

I heard yelling behind me. A mixture of, "STOP!" "We won't hurt you!" "Wait Sahara onee-chan, na no da!" "Slow down!" I ran even faster. Soon they were gaining on me. They were on either side and were running almost faster then me. I got a sudden idea then.

_Here I go again on my own _

_goin' down the only road I've ever known. _

_Like a hobo I was born to walk alone. _

_An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time _

_but here I go again, here I go again, _

_here I go again, here I go. _

I would stop really fast, they would skid past me and I would run in the other direction. I must waste no more time.

_An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time. _

I stopped and headed back in the other direction toward the café. They girls ran a bit past me but stop too. I heard someone say, "Ryou she's heading back to the café. Cut her off."

_Here I go again on my own _

_goin' down the only road I've ever known. _

_Like a drifter I was born to walk alone _

_'cos I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams. _

I was cut off by Ryou when I got to the café again. I ran straight through it yelling apologies at people I ran into. I was suddenly grabbed by two hands. It was Ryou. The jerk. He said, "You're a trouble maker aren't you. Very feisty." I hissed and kicked his legs. Hard. Very hard. He let go of me and I was off again. On my own.

BOY'S POV

There was this girl who ran through the café. She ran out the front and a few minutes later she ran back in. I wondered who she was running from. She looked kinda cute. She seemed afraid and angry when she ran though. When she ran back into the café she was grabbed by a blonde haired boy. I heard him say, "You're a trouble maker aren't you. Very feisty." She kicked him really hard in the shins. He let go of her and she raced off again. I wonder who she is, and why the man said that. I wonder…

SAHARA'S POV

I ran very hard through the kitchen where Keiichiro just stared as I raced through. I was out the back and down the street and into a forest. I heard yelling. "Search everywhere. Mint you look from the sky, Pudding in the trees, and the rest of us will search on the ground." I scampered up a tree and curled myself into a small ball. Suddenly a head popped around the tree, "I found her na no da!" I screamed in surprise and fell from the branch. I was going hands first and landed on my hands in a handstand. I rolled into a summersault and pushed myself up. As I looked up I saw the entire group of girls surrounded me. Lettuce said, "Please come with us. We won't hurt you. No one will." I screamed. "NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" I ran at Pudding and jumped over her. I ran back toward the café. 'Why are you running? They really might not hurt you,' said a voice in my head. 'As if. They'll just lock me up again. That WILL NOT happen.' "Off I go then," I muttered.

_Here I go again on my own _

_goin' down the only road I've ever known. _

_Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. _

_An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time _

_but here I go again, here I go again, _

_here I go again, here I go, _

_here I go again._

As I entered the café I saw Ryou and Keiichiro waiting to grab me. With a cry I through myself at them and jumped over them as well. I landed on my feet and hands. I pushed myself up again and ran through the café. I jumped over a few people and tables. I suddenly smacked into a brown haired boy. I was flung across the room and under a table. Ryou and Keiichiro ran in but didn't see me. They ran out the front door. I pulled myself to my feet and rushed over to the boy. He was cute. Very cute. I blushed a very dark red color. The boy looked up.

BOY'S POV

I was standing by my table when that girl ran through the café again. This time she smacked into me. She was thrown across the room and I fell to the ground. The blonde man ran in with a pony-tailed brown haired man. They looked around but didn't see what they were looking for and ran out the front door. I wonder if they were looking for that girl. I looked up and saw the blushing girl in front of me. She said again and again, "Gomen nasi, gomen nasi (A/N that is sorry in Japanese right?). I am very sorry. I am Sahara Sohma. What is yours?" I answered, "My name is David. David Mishomi." "I'm very sorry David-san. I'm very sorry. Gomen nasi. Sorry but I have to go. Those freaks will get me if I don't hurry. BYE!" She ran out the front door and out of sight. 'She's strange,' I thought.

SAHARA'S POV  
After I apologized I rushed out the front door. I saw the girls and the two men looking for me. I rushed past them with my head down hoping they wouldn't notice. It didn't work. Blue yelled, "THERE SHE IS! GRAB HER!" I ran back toward the café knowing that I could hide there. I ran faster then I ever ran before. I was gasping for breath when I got into the café. I don't know if it was me running so fast, or just me running for so long but I was out of breath and I couldn't breathe. I fell to my knees with my hands on the ground in a position like a bench. I couldn't breathe. No air would come. My vision began to go black I collapsed. I heard people calling my name. Everything went black and silent. 'Need. Air,' I though. Then I blacked out completely.

**MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MORE CLIFFIES! I liketh the cliffieith. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chappie. I based David-kun off a boy I like.  Anyways I still need names for s2006 who is a snake. Did you notice Sahara blacks out a lot? Strange. :P Also the next chappie will have mouth to mouth in it. Guess who does it! I'm doing this 'cause we're learning this in school. FOR NOW SAHARA-SAN OUT!** **THIS TOOK UP 9 PAGES IN WORD! DANG THIS IS LONG!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I AM BACK! YEAHNESS! I have news! You can vote for the names now (for S2006). I have them at the bottom. You can vote for them in the review. Thanks to all reviewers including Malaya (), animegoddess12345, Tomoyo Kinomoto, and Shandra-Chan. Thanks for reviewing! Now if we start the disclaimer we will start.**

**I. DO. NOT. OWN! Ok? Ok.**

**Now we can start!**

Mint was the first into the café. They all had returned to normal so they could look inside the café. She noticed Sahara on the floor. She gasped and ran out the door to tell the others. The whole gang rushed in the café. Lettuce rushed right over to Sahara. Lettuce turned very pale, "S-she's n-not breathing…" Pudding got big eyes and sat next to Sahara saying, "WAKE UP SAHARA ONEE-CHA NA NO DA!" Zakuro barked into the crowd surrounding Sahara, "Does anybody know CPR?"

A boy (DAVID-SAN) pushed through the crowd and said, "I do." Lettuce informed him, "She's not breathing. Her chest isn't rising or falling and she has a weak pulse." David nodded and bent over Sahara. He put his mouth over hers and did mouth-to-mouth CPR. (A/N Sometimes I have a sick mind. Sorry if this is stupid…) Everyone held his or her breaths. After about 5 breaths into Sahara she spluttered and opened her eyes. "Hey, David-san. We meet again." David pulled her to her feet and she gave a weak smile. She closed her eyes and toppled over into David's arms.

Keiichiro gave David a hearty thanks and told him to come back for free food whenever he wanted. David just stared and the floor and nodded. He was very deep in thought. He finally asked, "Where should I put her?" He had picked Sahara up bride-style and was ready to put her wherever. Ryou showed him up to the 2nd floor and into the bedroom with the window. David set Sahara on the bed, squeezed her hand, and left the café. He was still a bit in shock from what had happened.

Ryou came into Sahara's room. He stared at her for a moment and then went back downstairs. Because everyone was so freaked out by the CPR they pretty much all left. :P He called all the girls into a group. "We need to tie her down so we can tell her she's the new Mew. When the café closes we'll all meet upstairs to tell her." Everyone nodded and then Ichigo said, "She's gonna be friggin' mad though." Ryou then sighed and said, " Yes. That's what I'm afraid of."

END OF DAY

Because of slow business the café was closed early. Everyone met in Sahara's room. She was tied down by 3 thick ropes and was struggling against them. She was hissing and glaring daggers at everyone. Everyone sweat dropped and Ryou stepped forward and said, "If you answer all our questions you'll be let free of the ropes. But you have to stay in the café." Sahara nodded, "All right." Pudding stepped up next, "Do you have any friends na no da? Everyone must na no da." Sahara said, " I do. Her name is Haruka. She likes to be called Haru. (This is animegoddess12345's character, not mine.) That's all I'm telling you." Ryou then decided to ask the rest of the questions. Ryou said, "What experiments did they do on you?" Sahara glared at him, "Well you should know all them. But you made my eyes like this." She blinked her now red eyes. "Also you made it so I can run fast, removed my kidneys to see if I could live without them. You realized after a week I needed at least one. So you then put one back in. I'm not telling you anything else because I don't feel like it."

Ryou said, "How did you escape?"

Sahara glared again, "My friend Haru helped me escape. But later on she got separated from me. Then I ended up here after they found me."

"Why don't you like us?"

"You don't wanna know. You have caused me pain my entire life. I never knew my family because of you. You hurt innocent people. If you want to know anymore how I feel just listen to Kelly Clarkson's song Because Of You. That's pretty much how you make me feel."

"Why do you believe we are Area 61?"

"Because you chased me, tied me up, knocked me out, and told me not to run. That's why." Ryou stepped back.

Sahara said, "If you have no more questions then untie me please." Keiichiro and Zakuro untied Sahara. She stood up and yawned. She scooted over to the window and opened it up. She turned around with wide eyes and started to say something.

She stopped in mid-sentence, "They're here. That means your not Area 61. That means that they---" She then fell over onto the floor. Her eyes were silver and she couldn't move or speak.

(Peoples I will now list what her eyes mean in her mood:

Blue-ContentBrown-In LoveSilver-ShockGold-Asleep

Red-AngryGreen- Scared Purple-SadOrange-Out of It Black-ExcitedPink- Happy Grey-UpsetTan-SurprisedIf I missed any emotion please tell me and maybe a color that should go with it. Thanks.)

As Ichigo ran over to Sahara two men in black suit jumped in the window (A/N It is a BIG window ok:P).

"Step back from the girl and no one gets hurt. We are from Area 61 and this girl escaped. We'll take her and she'll bother you no more. Resist and there will be trouble. Thank you we'll be leaving," said the bald white man. The other bald black man had thrown Sahara over his shoulder and was standing by the window. The white man turned around and they both jumped out the abnormally large window.

The Mews ran over to the window. Ryou rushed over as well.

"We're going to go after them. Girls, transform and we'll go," he said. Ryou changed into Alto. The girls transformed and Pudding picked up Alto. The Mew and Alto jumped out the window in pursuit. Keiichiro watched them jump.

"I'll get the car I guess," he said to no one.

WITH THE MEWS

All the mews raced after the two men. As the men ran Sahara bounced on his shoulder. She looked back with pleading eyes. Her eyes said 'Help' in a so no words were needed.

Ichigo said, "Lets cut them off then attack." Everyone agreed and Zakuro and Ichigo went to cut the men off. The two mews pulled in front of them and Ichigo hissed.

"You're cut off. You have no way to go." The two men glared at them.

The white man said, "I now must use force." He attacked Ichigo while Ichigo attacked back. He just dodged every one. Ryou then changed back to his human body and told the rest of the Mews to attack as well.

"PUDDING RING INFERIO!" "RIBBON MINT ECHO!" "RIBBON LETTUCE RUSH!" "RIBBON ZAKURO'S PURE!" "RIBBON STRAWBERRY CHECK!" Both men tried to dodge the attack but both got hit. The man holding Sahara let go and she flew through the air at a certain boy.

SAHARA'S POV

These are the men from Area 61. So… Those guys aren't. Dang. Now I just lost possible friends and got caught by them. Again. Great. Wait, the guys are coming after me! YEAH! I AM SAVED! But I can't move. Stupid stunning stuff….

ME POV

Now as these events are happening a certain person happens to be walking through the same park. David had been there for a while. He was still pretty out of. Because of that he walked right into the Mew battle. Very smooth, David. Smooth. Either way suddenly a girl falls into his arms. Then he wakes up. "Sahara," he asked to no one. Sahara blinked at him. "What's going on," he asked. He looks up and sees the two men on the ground and Tokyo Mew Mews glaring at the men. "Wow. Nice time for a walk," David mused. Ryou went up to the men and tied them up.

He told the mews, "I called the police. They'll be here soon. Lets go."

He walked up to David, "I'll take her. She'll be safe. You can see her later." David nodded and handed Sahara to Ryou. Ryou placed Sahara on her feet. She tottered forward.

"Thank god. I can walk." She looked to Ryou. "I guess I owe you an apologies. Zannendearu. (Means sorry too.)" She turned to David and beamed, "HI! Thanks for saving me!" David is then glomped. David blushed as red as a tomato Sahara then turned to Ryou, "We can go." Ryou nodded and turned back to the girls. And Keiichiro.

"Lets go Mews." The girl nodded and Keiichiro got back in the car and Ryou joined him with Sahara. All the Mews and company left. David just stood there.

"Wow. What just happened here?" David stood up and left.

BACK AT CAFÉ

"I'm sorry for not believing you. I need to learn your names though… But I have one question though. Why did you do tests on me," Sahara said.

Ryou looked at the other Mews who had detransformed, "Well the red head slacker is Ichigo," Ichigo glared daggers, "the green haired one is Lettuce. The blonde you know is Pudding, you know Zakuro, and the blue haired one is Mint."

"What about my other question. The one with the tests," Sahara asked. The others looked at each other and Mint came forward.

You saw us transformed. We are called Tokyo Mew Mew. You are one too. The tests were to see what animal you were infused with."

Zakuro stepped up, "Welcome to the club kid."

**I.AM. DONE! This took me forever to write. I'm sorry so. Gomen nasai. I got all the Japanese words off the internet. This chappie took so long 'cause my internet time has been cut… T-T BUT GUESS WHAT! ONLY 19 DAYS OF MY SCHOOL LEFT THEN YOU GET MORE CHAPPIES! YEAHNESS: P Well here are the possible names for S2006. I'm sorry that I had to narrow it down. I had a lot of good entries though. The names are Daija, Gina, Hebi, Momozawa, Davi, or Satari. Thanks for the people who put them in. You can vote in the reviews. So… REVIEW! Or no new chappie. There. :P LOVE YA'LL! BYE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I feel bad. T-T Anyway here are the stats for the names: Daija 2; Gina 0; Hebi; Momzawa 0; Davi 1; Satari 2. I GOT 21 REVIEWS! THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED! I LUB YOU ALL IN A NOT HOMOSEXUAL WAY! Ok? Ok. Let's get this thingy started! Also another emotion is sick when she gets sick her eyes turn indigo.**

**Sahara: **She does NOT own Tokyo Mew Mew. But she owns me and David-san. Not Haru-san 'cause she animaegoddess12345's. Yep.

_Replay: "Welcome to the club kid."_

Sahara stared at them. "You're all crazy. Lunatics. Maniacs. Bakas. I'm NOT a Mew Mew. That's impossible. I don't believe you."

Lettuce said, "It's true. Masha give her her pendent and she can transform and see." Masha spit out a pendent while tweeting happily. Sahara caught the pendent and looked up. Everyone was staring at her.

"What do I say," she asked.

"Whatever comes to your mind na no da," cried Pudding. Sahara thought and then kissed the pendent.

"Mew Mew Sahara, Metamorphosis!" Her transformation was to the Digimon song with no words, just music. Sahara was lifted up off the ground and she shown with a brown light. She brought one arm over to touch her mew mark. She kicked up her legs in a hand stand and boot Roman style sandals. Next came the skirt when she flipped back up. A snake tail came out of the back of the skirt. The skirt had a slit up the left side. A small slit for more movement but not long enough for pervert to get a good look at her upper thigh. Her leg band popped up then she flung her arms in the air. They were enveloped in a brown light and had sleeves in medieval style flair on the end (long, open, flaring sleeves) that started in the middle of her arms. Her brown armbands appeared as well. (Her costume is all brown.) Her shirt appeared next. It wrapped around to the back. In the front two spirals (like Will's in W.I.T.C.H look on the internet for her picture.) surrounding her pendant and her belly button. (The neck thing already had appeared.) Her feet touched the ground again and she did a pose with her hand on her hip and the other in a peace sign in front of her.

Sahara blinked at her costume. "Wow." Then She noticed the snake tail and began to freak out. "I HAVE A SNAKE TAIL! WHY DO I HAVE A SNAKE TAIL? WHY!"

Ryou answered simply, "You were injected with New Mexico ridgenose rattlesnake DNA." Ryou grabbed Sahara and pulled her outside and into the forest. The rest of the team followed. "Now say whatever words come to your head again. Attack the target." There was a target there already. Very strange. :P

Sahara blinked again and said, "Sahara Rattles." Two maracas that looked like snake rattles appeared in her hands. Then she cried, "Ribbon, SAHARA SHAKE!" A powerful blast of sound and air combined with dirt flung itself at the target, ripping it out of the ground and destroying it completely. Everyone stared in amazement where the target had stood before its departure from this world. Sahara gasped and fell to her knees. Her shoulders began to shake as she sobbed. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no." As Pudding came forward to see if she was all right Sahara pulled herself up and ran blindly away. She was still sobbing.

Pudding called, "Sahara-oneechan come back no na da!" (Trust me I'd be scared if I suddenly became a Mew after being experimented on my entire life.)

DAVID POV

When the Mews left I decided to follow them. Curiosity killed the cat. But I'm not a cat so I won't die. I followed them back to Café Mew Mew. They went inside while I decided to wait for them to come out again. I went around to the back and leaned on a tree. I soon fell asleep from waiting and being bored. Awhile late I woke up to the sound of a scream, sobbing, and running footsteps. I heard a yell, "Sahara-oneechan come back no na da!" I jumped to my feet and ran in the direction of the sobbing. Maybe it was Sahara I thought. I was right she was sobbing and running right at me. I spread my arms out to stop her and succeeded. She crashed into my arms sobbing. "What's wrong," I asked. I got no reply, just sobbing and a few 'no's. I wrapped my arms around her and she knelled down and so did I. I was now down on my knees hugging a sobbing, hysterical girl. That's a first. I heard footsteps and I stood up. I patted Sahara's head and said; "I'll see you later. Just calm down OK?" She nodded slowly and soon she was just sniffing loudly. I took off and ran in the direction of my house.

ME POV

The entire Mew group had soon surrounded a sniffing Sahara while Zakuro and Pudding watched David run away (They didn't know who he was though.) Ichigo helped Sahara to her feet and Sahara thanked her.

Keiichiro said, "Let's go in the café and talk some more about the position we're in." Everyone followed Keiichiro, even Sahara who was being supported by Mint and Lettuce. Once inside the group sat themselves in chairs at the little café tables.

Keiichiro started to talk about how the needle hit Sahara and why, and all that jazz. He also said a bit about the New Mexico ridgenose rattlesnake. Half way through Keiichiro glanced down at the floor where Sahara and Pudding were sitting to see a strange little scene. Pudding had fallen asleep with her head on Sahara's lap and Sahara had fallen asleep on the wall.

Keiichiro smiled, "Let's put them to bed it is very late."

Ichigo glanced down at a cat watch on her wrist and said, "OH MY GOD! My parents are gonna kill me! It's midnight!" All the girls (excluding Pudding, Sahara, and Zakuro) said the same thing.

Mint then said, "You guys can stay the night at my mansion. My parents won't mind as they're never around. Then you won't get as in much trouble as you would if you just went home." Ichigo and Lettuce nodded and they both called home on Ichigo's cell phone. When Ichigo called home you could hear from a foot away a yelling dad saying something about she better not be with boys. Over the dad's voice you could hear the mom saying sure just come home tomorrow. Lettuce called and got permission without being yelled at because her parents were happy she was out making new friends.

When Lettuce got off the phone she looked down at Sahara and Pudding and said, "What should we do with them?" Keiichiro thought for a second and said, "They can stay here until tomorrow. They can sleep on one of the beds upstairs."

Ryou just muttered and said, "You better not be late tomorrow for work. You still have to work." Ichigo glared daggers again but Mint dragged her out with Lettuce and Zakuro following. They waved goodbye and set off by foot to Mint's mansion.

Ryou looked down at Sahara and said, "I'm not carrying them." Sahara stirred and opened her eyes. Her eyes were an orangeish brown color. She slipped out from underneath Pudding picked her up and carried up the stairs into the bedroom with the windows. She set her down, laid down on the floor, and fell asleep.

Keiichiro looked at Ryou and said, "I guess you don't have to."

**OMG! sobs I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE! With killer homework, school, softball, soccer, monkey brothers, friends, a soccer tournament, a wedding, and a birthday party for my friends is a lot to handle. Sorry this is so short… ONLY 11 DAYS OF SCHOOL LEFT! That's great but I'm gonna have TONS of killer tests. Great. Sorry again. JA NE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'M BACK AND I'M STARTING TO WRITE NOW! 'Cause now's the best time as I'm on word for homework. So I just have to double task. Shouldn't be that hard. I'll update on the names on the bottom as I haven't gotten any new reviews yet. You can vote again this chapter and maybe the next. I don't know though… Well I'm going to start again and I hope ya'll enjoy it! YEAHNESS!**

**David:** I'll put it real simple for ya'll. She does not own Tokyo Mew Mew or Haru. 'K? She owns Sahara and myself though. So ask if you want to use us in a story Mew S. will tell you if you can. **ON TO THE STORY!**

Sahara yawned at tried to sit up to no avail. Why? Because Pudding had made her roost sitting on Sahara's back. "GET OFF ME PUDDING!" Pudding jumped off Sahara and started to jump around.

"I wonder what we'll do today na no da? I bet Ichigo onee-chan will be late na no da. She's always late na no da. That's 'cause she got herself a boy friend na no da. I like Tar-Tar but he left with the other aliens na no da. I miss him na no da."

Sahara gave Pudding an odd look. "Aliens? Who are the aliens?"

Now it was Pudding's turn to give Sahara an odd look. "They attacked us about a year ago na no da. We fought them off and gave them some Mew Aqua na no da. It was so they could fix their planet na no da. I hope it worked na no da."

Sahara said, "Whatever. Just please get out of here. You're making my head hurt." Pudding scampered out of them room and you could hear Ryou yelling about who let the crazy hyperactive monkey out. Sahara laughed and collapsed on the bed. 'I'm so not a morning person,' she thought. She heard a clatter of dishes and voices from downstairs and decided that the café must have opened. She walked down the stairs and was stopped halfway down them by having a brown café outfit shoved in her face. "What in bloody hell is this," she asked.

Ryou popped out from around the outfit. "It's your café outfit. You start working today." Sahara looked at it for a minute and then grudgingly took it and went into the upstairs bathroom. Ryou heard her squeal about how cute it was. When she came back she had black and pink colored eyes. Surprisingly she had a straight face. She did look like she was going to break out into dance any moment though. She skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ryou groaned, "Great. It's going to be a long day."

Sahara looked at Ichigo and asked, "What do I do?"

Ichigo said, "Just watch me and you'll find out soon enough." So Ichigo went up to some customers welcomed them, sat them down, and asked for their order. Then she came back to Sahara. "See? It's simple then you just give the order to who ever is in the kitchen then bring it back to the people. Easy."

Sahara nodded. "I'll give it a whirl," she said. She bounded up to some customers who just came in. "Welcome to Café Mew Mew. How many people in your party?"

A girl with red hair replied, "4 in our party." Sahara then whisked them off to a table set for 4.

"Here our your menus. I'll be back in a moment to get your orders." Sahara then walked back over to Ichigo.

"That was great," Ichigo said happily. Sahara heard a sudden scream. Lettuce was slipping around and about to drop a handful of plates. Sahara rushed over, slid and caught the dishes just before they hit the ground. Sahara let out a sigh of relief and pulled her self into a standing position. Lettuce was apologizing again and again but Sahara brushed it off.

"It's fine, Lettuce, it's fine," she sighed. She then went into the kitchen and dropped them off by the sink where Pudding was scrubbing the dishes then tossing them into a pile of clean ones. REALLY tossing them. Sahara just stared as the dishes landed somehow perfectly in a pile. "That's amazing. Really," Sahara muttered. Pudding gave her a big smile and kept tossing them.

Sahara went back out into the café and went over to the table asked, "What would you like to order?'

"I would like a Strawberry Crepe and water."

"I'd like an Orange Smoothie."

"I'd like a Hot Fudge Sundae."  
"I'd like the Special."

Sahara nodded and went back into the kitchen and gave the order to Zakuro, who was helping cook. She then left the kitchen and greeted more customers.

LATER

"Closing time! Time for everyone to leave," called Mint.

Ichigo sighed as well as Sahara. "That was a really busy day," they both said.

Mint said, "True. I only got to drink 9 cups of tea instead of my usual 10." Ichigo began to twitch and Pudding restrained her.

Ichigo screamed at Mint, "YOU DIDN'T WORK THAT MUCH AT ALL! YOU ARE SO LAZY! ARGH!"

Mint just screamed right back. A full fledged argument was started. Sahara finally screamed, "WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP? GOD!" They both fell silent.

Keiichiro came in and said, "We need to find out where Sahara is going to sleep and stay. She can't stay here forever."

Everyone looked at each other. No one said they could then suddenly Pudding volunteered. "She can stay with me na no da! She can meet my brothers and sister na no da!" Sahara agreed.

"Fine with me. I don't care," Sahara answered.

Ryou then walked in. "Sahara, we need to find out more about you." Sahara nodded ok.

"Alright. My full name is Sahara Sabuka Sohma. I am 11 years old. Born on June 21st, 1994. I was born in the Sahara Desert, hence my name. My blood type is B. Family? I have none. My parents both died in a car crash. Supposedly. I don't really know how they died. I have been at Area 61 since as long as I can remember. My best friend is Haru. And now you guys too I guess. I like the color brown, rain, singing, and tape."

"TAPE," screamed Pudding, "I LOVE TAPE NA NO DA! YEAH NA NO DA!"

"Hey. Don't we need a place for Sahara to stay," asked Zakuro.

"I guess we do," said Mint.

"ME NA NO DA! SHE CAN STAY WITH ME NA NO DA!" Sahara flinched at the thought of living with the hyper active monkey girl. She slowly nodded her head.

"YEAH NA NO DA! SHE CAN STAY WITH ME NA NO DA!"

"My god. Who put her on sugar," questioned Sahara.

"I eat sugar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner na no da!"

At that everyone sweatdropped. Sahara trudged after a skipping Pudding and gave them pleading eyes. Ryou laughed but no one stopped them. Sahara looked back until they reached the corner, sighed and followed Pudding bravely.

**YEAH! I UPDATED! WHOOT ! Thanks for all the reviews! I LUV YOU ALL! Here are the name stats. Remember to vote again. Daija: 2; Gina:0; Hebi:0; Momzawa:0, Davi:1, and Satari: 4. HOPE YA"LL LIKE IT! SEE YA SOON! JA NE!**

**P.S. Next chappie, THEY'RE BACK, NYA!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm back! Sorry about the last one being short and stupid. I just had to get it over with. Here are the name stats so far (I'm only listing the ones with 1or more votes) Daija 2, Davi 1, and Satari 5. GO SATARI GO:p Well here I go. Heads up I'm gonna have a cliffie!**

**Pudding: **SHE DOES NOT OWN NA NO DA! ONLY DAVID-KUN AND SAHARA ONEECHAN NA NO DA! She does not own Haru oneechan either na no da. She belongs to animegoddess12345's.

**Does anyone know what you would refer to an older brother to be? Is it onii-sama? Don't know….**

THEY'RE BACK! The debut of an old friend.

Sahara followed Pudding and sighed. 'I guess I'll have to stay with this little hyper active monkey… Oh well.'

"WE'RE HERE NA NO DA! Come meet Chancha, Hanacha, Lucha, Honcha, and Heicha na no da!"

'She. Has. Siblings? God. I'm dead.' As soon as they got into the house all the kids came running up and attached themselves to Sahara and Pudding's legs. They squealed and jumped around doing tricks. 'I'm SO dead.'

"All right you guys na no da. This Sahara oneechan and she'll be staying with us na no da." All the kids attached themselves onto Sahara's legs.

"SAHARA ONEECHAN! YAH!" Sahara twitched but calmed down.

Pudding dragged her into a room. "You can stay in my room na no da. I'll sleep on a futon na no da." The room was all yellow and covered in everything having to do with monkeys. It was rather small.

Sahara narrowed her eyes. "I"LL sleep on the futon, Pudding. This is your room. I shall not intrude."  
Pudding tried to convince Sahara to sleep there but she kept refusing. "I'll sleep on the futon. And because I'm staying here I'll pay you rent. Half my pay each day. 'K?"

Pudding refused but Sahara edged her on. "Because you are being so nice I should pay you rent."

Pudding suddenly lit up. ""Cause you're giving me money I'll teach you tricks na no da! We can perform together na no da! Let's go now na no da!"

"No, Pudding. I need to sleep. You go," Sahara said softly. She wandered into a small living room and collapsed on the futon. As soon as her head the pillow she was out like a light.

NEXT MORNING NA NO DA!

Pudding flipped food to her brothers and sister as Sahara ran out the door. "I'm going to work." She ran down the street as fast as she could. It was 5 minutes later that she screeched to a halt in front of the café. She burst through the door and dashed into the changing room, changed, and ran back out. Mint stood there with a stopwatch.

"Damn. You're fast." Sahara nodded and ran over to the kitchen.

"Do I work in here today? Or out there," she asked Keiichiro. Keiichiro nodded to the café area and Sahara ran out again. Pudding had arrived and the first customers were just coming in.

LATER

"Meeting in the lab," called Keiichiro after the café closed. Everyone went down to the lab. Sahara looked around nervously.

"What's going on," asked Zakuro.

"We need to do some tests on Sahara." Sahara paled and her eyes turned bright green. She wobbled and grabbed onto the nearest table. She looked up uncertainly.

"Sure," she gasped.

"Alright. Transform," commanded Ryou. With the flash of brown light Sahara emerged in her battle outfit. She did her pose and turned to Ryou.

"What now?" Ryou walked around her and looked up and down her body. Sahara blushed a deep red and screamed, "PERVERT!"

"Everything's fine," muttered Ryou. Sahara blushed even more. "Call out your rattles," Ryou said.

"SAHARA RATTLES!" Her rattles materialized in her hands.

"They look fine too. Done."

Sahara blinked, "Already."

"Yep."

Lettuce gasped suddenly. "Ryou-san? Why was the gun ready to make a new Mew? Is something bad happening?"

Keiichiro's face turned shady. "They're back. The aliens are back."

Everyone gasped, even Zakuro. "Really," asked Ichigo. Ryou nodded. "CRAP! Now Kish is going to stalk me again!"

"But why are they back," Mint said.

Ryou said, "The Mew Aqua wasn't enough. They were sent back to get more. And yes, there are more Mew Aqua's. 6. And Earth needs them more lately so we can't give them up with out a fight."

As it all sunk in Lettuce asked, "So we have to fight?" Ryou nodded.

"You all go home. You need some rest," said Keiichiro. Everyone left except Sahara. She glared at Ryou and then her gaze softened.

"Ryou?"

"Hm?"

"Can I stay here tonight? After what you just told us I don't think I can stand 6 over hyper kids and Pudding-chan."

Ryou stared for a second. "Sure. I don't care."

Sahara squealed and glomped him, "THANK YOU!" She ran up the stairs leaving a very scared Ryou.

ON THE ROOF

Sahara stared at the sky. "I miss you Mom and Dad," she whispered. Tears came to her eyes. She heard a noise behind her and spun around in a roundhouse kick. Her kick was caught by none other then Ryou.

"What are you doing up here? You were in the kitchen eating cake one moment and then you disappeared."

"I'm just thinking," Sahara growled pulling her leg from Ryou's grasp. "Go away."

"No. What are you thinking about?"

"What do you care," Sahara snarled. "GO AWAY!"

Her ran over to the edge of the roof and threw her self over it. Ryou raced over just in time to see Sahara land crookedly and take off into the park.

PARK

Sahara rushed down the path into the park. 'It's dark so no one will be there.' She heard a yell behind her and ran even faster. She saw a park bench and some one laying on it so she slid behind it. 2 minutes later Ryou rushed onto the scene gasping.

"Sahara? Sahara! Come back! I didn't mean whatever I said that offended you. Come back." (He's a softie right now eh?) He searched everywhere and ran down the path to look farther in the park. Sahara let out a sigh of relief.

She looked up at the person who was on the bench. They had black hair with red streaks that was hanging in Sahara's face. She noticed it had lots of split ends. 'Like Haru's,' Sahara thought. She then noticed a small, tattered bunny hanging off the end of the bench.

"Suzume!" 'No way! That's Haru's rabbit. That means… The person on this bench is Haru!'

Haru yawned and stretched out. She suddenly sat up and turned around staring straight into the face of Sahara. "Sahara?"

Sahara grinned and said, "What?" For that she got a good whack in the head with Suzume.

"YOU! What are you doing here! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Sahara heard footsteps and pulled Haru under the bench and clasped her hand over Haru's mouth.

"Keep quiet. I'm hiding from that baka," she whispered. Haru stared at Ryou.

Ryou said again, "Sahara? If you're there just come back to the café tomorrow. You need to work."

Sahara huffed angrily as Ryou walked back in the direction of the café. As soon as he was out of sight she exploded.

"THAT BAKA! HE'S SUCH AN IDIOT! WHY DO I EVEN PUT UP WITH HIM?"

Haru just stared and smacked Sahara again. She instantly quieted down. Haru said, "You'll answer my questions. Who is that guy and what does he have to do with you?"

Sahara sighed, "Just let me show you. MEW MEW SAHARA! METAMORPHI-SIS!" Haru gawked as Sahara landed and did her pose. Sahara looked at the ground. "That's what he has to do with me."

**Ya like? Hope ya do. I'm updating now 'cause I really wanted you guys to read this and like it. And 'cause it took so long for me to update last time. Please vote again. I need more votes! Please review as well. Any flames will heat my room. Actually it's too hot for that… IT WILL POWER MY COMPUTER! THAT'S IT! MUAHAHHAHAHA! Yeah. Hope ya like Haru too. Check out animegoddess12345's stories and 'mail her for any questions about her. Or ya can ask me. :P JA NE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am back and ready for action. Gomen nasai about taking so long. I'm watching the Fruits Basket anime on youtube so I've been busy with that. I GOT OUT OF SCHOOL! SWEETNESS! So busy. More votes in. I'll tell you at the bottom of the story. I hope you enjoy! I. DO. NOT. OWN. Any of it except Sahara and David. Not Haru. She's animegoddess12345's. Yep na no da. Thanks for all my wonderful reviews! I LUV YOU ALL! Over 30 reviews! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY! starts to bawl and hides in closet ENJOY! I'm so sorry it took so long. TT GOMEN NASAI!**

"WWWHHHHHHHAAAAATT," yelled Haru.

Sahara blushed a dark red. "It's nothing really. Have you ever heard of the Tokyo Mew Mews?"

"Hai. (A/N means yes in Japanese) I read about them in the newspaper. They saved the world, no?"

"Well… I'm a Mew now. The aliens are attacking again and I'm the new recruit. I'm Mew Sahara. I got the DNA of a New Mexico ridgenose rattlesnake."

Haru stared at her. The suddenly she turned chibi mode. "HE IS SO DEAD! HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO MY BEST FRIEND WITHOUT PERMISSION! HE'S DEAD!"

Sahara panicked and sweatdropped. "It's not his fault Haru-chan. He didn't choose me! It's 'cause my DNA!"

Once an angry Haru gets going she's not gonna stop. Still in chibi mode she grabbed Sahara and dragged her toward the café. "Well I'm gonna have a talk with this baka!" (A/N Idiot in Japanese for all ya bakas who don't know. Just kidding. )

CAFÉ

Haru banged through the café door and a bell rang, signaling that someone had entered the café. Keiichiro popped his head around the corner. "Sorry the café is closed. We open at 11 A.M tomorrow." Keiichiro sweatdropped at the angry chibi Haru holding onto a blushing Sahara.

"WHERE IS RYOU SHIROGANE? HE'S MINCE MEAT! LOOK WHAT HE DID TO MY FRIEND!" Sahara clasped her free hand over her face in shame. (Sahara is still in Mew form.) Keiichiro's sweatdrop got bigger.

"He's in his room," Keiichiro squeaked, "second floor." Haru pulled Sahara up the stairs as she gave Keiichiro a 'please save me from this mess' look.

Haru threw open the door to Ryou's room and he fell off his chair.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU," he yelled.

"I AM HARUKA AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO SAHARA!" She whapped Ryou with Suzume and Ryou sweatdropped.

"I know what happened to Sahara," he replied between smacks. "Now PLEASE STOP SMACKING ME WITH THAT RABBIT!"

Haru stopped and blushed. "Gomen nasai. Gomen nasai." (A/N Once again sorry in Japanese) She let go of Sahara and Sahara whipped around and glared at Ryou.

"Go away jerk."

Ryou glared back. "You're in my room."

Sahara's eyes widened and she looked around and blushed. "I guess I am…"

After a few minutes of continuous glaring and Haru standing looking at them with a sweatdrop, Sahara grabbed Haru and pulled her roughly toward the open window. "Let's go," she muttered roughly. Ryou blocked the way to the window, so Sahara pulled Haru down the stairs and out the door leaving a cloud of dust behind.

"I never knew it was so dusty," mused Keiichiro. Ryou just groaned and slapped his hand on his face.

IN ABANDONED OLD HOUSE

Haru gave Sahara a look. "Why did you leave? I was going to give that punk a real talking to."

Sahara looked at the ground. "It's fine. He didn't choose me. I like being a Mew. And I'm glad I found you. If I hadn't run away from him I wouldn't of found you. He's really not that bad. He's just a bit cold. That's all. Besides it will work out tomorrow. I'll see him again."

"WHAT!"

Sahara looked surprised then sighed, "I forgot to tell you. Because I'm a Mew I get a job at that café. It pays well. If you want to talk to him you can tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now." She curled up into a ball and leaned on a wall.

Haru grinned and did the same. "'Night, Sahara-chan."

"'Night, Haru onee-chan." Everything was quiet and Sahara began to think. "Haru onee-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Remember when I met you? I'm glad I did."

Haru smiled widely. "Me too."

FLASH BACK

_A young girl sat in a dark corner of a lab sobbing. "Mommy! Daddy! Where are you? All the people here are big and mean. They're speaking another language and I can't understand them… MOMMY! DADDY!"_

_Another young girl crawled over to the girl. "What's the matter? Are you ok? You must be new… What's you're name," she whispered._

_The first girl looked up. "I'm Sahara. Sahara Sohma. I'm 4 years old. Who are you?"_

_The older girl smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Haruka. I'm 6. Let's go sit somewhere else. We can sit and no one will see us. You wanna be my friend?"_

_Sahara grinned. "Sure!"_

END FLASHBACK

As Sahara fell into a deep sleep she fell asleep to a song.

I will not make the same mistakes that you did

I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery

I will not break the way you did

You fell so hard

I've learned the hard way, to never let it get that far

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side

So I don't get hurt

Because of you

I find it hard to trust

Not only me, but everyone around me

Because of you

I am afraid

I lose my way

And it's not too long before you point it out

I cannot cry

Because I know that's weakness in your eyes

I'm forced to fake, a smile, a laugh

Every day of my life

My heart can't possibly break

When it wasn't even whole to start with

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side

So I don't get hurt

Because of you

I find it hard to trust

Not only me, but everyone around me

Because of you

I am afraid

I watched you die

I heard you cry

Every night in your sleep

I was so young

You should have known better than to lean on me

You never thought of anyone else

You just saw your pain

And now I cry

In the middle of the night

For the same damn thing

Because of you

I never stray too far from the sidewalk

Because of you

I learned to play on the safe side

So I don't get hurt

Because of you

I tried my hardest just to forget everything

Because of you

I don't know how to let anyone else in

Because of you

I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty

Because of you

I am afraid

Because of you

Because of you

**I hope you enjoyed. I really like this chappie. I think. :P I really hope you'll all forgive my for taking so long. I'm going to try and make the chapters longer so you won't have to vote so much. I feel bad 'cause you might be voting for a while. Well here are the name stats; 3 Daija, 0 Gina, Hebi 0, 0 Momozawa, Davi 1, Satari 5. If ya'll don't know I DO NOT OWN THE SONG! Kelly Clarkson owns it and it's called Because of You. Thank you and JA NE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**OMG! This story currently has 36 reviews, is in a c2, has 7 favorites, and 8 alerts, as well as 731 hits. Arigato to all of you who have helped me get this far. You all get a virtual Mew Sahara plushie! And animegoddess12345 who has helped me tons gets a Haru plushie as well! YEAH! Oh yeah. In a recent review I was asked if I really had to make the aliens evil, because as they rock so much (I agree). Well, they're not going to be really evil and that will come in helpful later. wink, wink On with the story na no da!**

**PUDDING: **She does not own TMM or Haru. But she owns Sahara onee-chan and David onii-chan na no da. So if ya wanna use them ask na no da! Now on in the name of all that is monkey na no da! **Me. :P**

Sahara yawned and sat up. She wiped her eyes and look at a watch on her wrist. She screamed loudly and began to run around in circles. "I'M LATE, I'M LATE! ARGH! I'M LATE, I'M LATE! CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP!"

Haru yawned at sat up as well. Her hair was in a weird shape. She groaned. "Snap. I slept on my hair funky again. Now, I gotta brush it well." She looked up at the scene of Sahara and running and screaming. A large sweatdrop grew on her head. "Beside the fact that you're late, what's wrong?"

"IT'S A 25 MINUTE RUN FROM HERE TO THERE AND I'M ALREADY LATE! I'M SO DEAD! EVEN AS FAST AS I RUN IT'S 15 MINUTES!"

"I don't see the big deal. Just apologize."

"IT WON'T WORK! I'M GOING TO BE LATER THEN ICHIGO! ARGH!"

Haru sighed. "I don't want to do this but I guess it's the only choice…" She pulled out of nowhere a cup of coffee. (YEAH AUTHORESS POWERS!)

Sahara's eyes got big. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! COFFEE!" She started bouncing off the walls. Haru sighed again.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Haru grabbed Sahara, threw her to the ground, and forced the coffee in her mouth. Sahara's eyes were big before right? Well think that x2.

Sahara jumped everywhere. Haru pushed her out the door. "Go. You'll be not as late now." Sahara ran down the street passing speeding cars. "What have I done," asked Haru to no one.

AT THE CAFÉ

Pudding had just arrived and changed and was bouncing all over the place. Ichigo wasn't there as she was ALWAYS late. Mint was sipping some tea and Lettuce was sweeping. Zakuro just stood looking out the window. Suddenly she turned around. "Sahara is here." She turned to Mint. "You owe me 50 yen." (A/N sorry if that's sort of lame. I was going to put dollar but there in Japan. :P) Mint grumbled, pulled out her wallet, and handed Zakuro the money. Zakuro slipped in her pocket and went to help sweep.

Sahara rushed in and yelled, "AM I LATE!"

"Nope na no da! On time na no da."

"YEAH!" Sahara began bouncing around and went into the locker room to change.

Mint's eyes were big. "She's REALLY hyper."

"I KNOW WHY NA NO DA!"

"Why Pudding-san," asked Lettuce.

"'cause she had coffee na no da."

"COFFEE," exclaimed Mint and Lettuce.

"Hai na no da. I recognize the signs na no da. She was like me when I had coffee na no da."

Sahara bonded back into the room. "I'mreadytoworkfullmaxguys'causeI'mhyper."

"Sahara-san? Did you have coffee?"

Sahara got a goofy look on her face. "Hai,Ineededtogetherfast'causewhereIwasstayingwasfaraway."

"Where were you staying na no da?"

"WithmyfriendHaru. IfoundherafterIranawayfromRyou. SoIstayedthenightwithherandshegavemecoffee."

"Yeah," Mint said slowly.

Ichigo ran in. "Am I late?"

"YES (na no da)!"

LATER

The effects of the coffee slowly wore off but Sahara still was working doing tricks as effortlessly as Pudding would. Mint, Pudding, Ichigo, and Lettuce all met in the kitchen. Zakuro stayed close to the door to listen but still worked. Lettuce started to talk. "Remember when Sahara told us about herself?" All the others nodded. "Well she said her birthday was on the 21st of June right?" Everyone nodded again. "Well that's today. So we should make her a cake and celebrate or something." (A/N I'm really sorry I planned to get this chapter out yesterday but I was gone. Gomen nasai. T-T)

Pudding cheered as the others agreed. "I'll make the cake na no da! Me, me, me na no da!"

Ichigo smiled. "I'll help her. I'll ask Keiichiro where all the ingredients are and it should be done by the time the café closes!"

CLOSING TIME!

After hearing a series of booms and explosions the cake was finally finished as everyone changed back into their clothes. "Meeting in the kitchen," called Ichigo. Sahara cocked her head but followed about as she was going to enter the kitchen the front door opened.

"I'll get it," called Sahara. She walked around to the front and started to say, "Sorry the café is clos-" "HARU!" Sahara glomped onto Haru and smiled. "You're just in time. We're having a meeting in the kitchen." Sahara dragged Haru into the kitchen. "Guys this is Haru my-" Her eyes turned tan as she looked around.

A chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"s echoed in the kitchen. Haru smiled and noogied Sahara. "Happy birthday kid."

Zakuro asked, "Who's that?"

Sahara blinked eyes turning pink. "She's my friend Haru. I told you about her."

"Hello. So assume you are all Mews."

Everyone looked surprised. Sahara blushed. "I told her about us," she said sheepishly.

Ryou burst into the kitchen. "The aliens are attacking. Tokyo Mew Mew, mukua!" (A/N mukua is one of the many forms of "go" in Japanese. It means "to face, to go toward.") He looked at Haru. "Hello. We meet again." Haru glared at him. Ryou looked over to Sahara. "You are not to battle in this fight. You are to watch and learn. You are never to transform unless I tell you to or I say forget this rule. Haru you may watch as well. Now, mukua!"

Everyone transformed and raced toward a nearby park. Ryou turned to Sahara and Haru. "You both can come in the car. We'll be driving over there."

Sahara puffed and said, "I'll run thank you." She rushed out of the café with Haru in hot pursuit.

Keiichiro walked in. "This is a great birthday present for her, no?" Ryou snorted and walked off to the car.

NEARBY PARK

Ichigo looked around. "I don't see anything. Do you guys?"

Every nodded 'no'. Suddenly Kish, Tart and Pie teleported. But this time they had someone else with them. He looked about 16 years old and had clothes like Kish's shirt with no sleeves and had Tart's shorts. "NEKO," yelled Ichigo. He teleported next to her and kissed her on the head.

"YOU JERK!" Ichigo swung and him but missed.

"TAR-TAR NA NO DA!" Pudding jumped attached herself to Tart's leg. Tart pushed her off.

Tart looked apologetic but said, "We're here to fight."

"No duh," said the new guy. "My name is Turnover but I am to be called Turn. I'm the new leader because these idiots couldn't handle eliminating you and bringing back enough Mew Aqua or taking over the Earth. So now I can handle that."

Mint laughed. "Well now we have more but to kick."

Turnover growled and threw his weapon at them. They're like numchucks with large spiky balls at the ends. It can be turned into a staff. Mint dodged as it flew back to Turnover. "GO CHIMERA ANIMA!" (A/N This is how to spell it right? They spell it different in the manga but this is how I see it most often.) A large chimera anima slithered into view. It was a large newt and flung its tongue out to get the Mews.

"Let's attack this weak anima!"

"RIBBON…"  
"LETTUCE RUSH!"

"ZAKURO PURE!"

"PUDDING RING INFERNO!"

"MINT ECHO!"

"STRAWBERRY CHECK!"

The monster shrieked and returned to normal. Masha collected the parasite.

Pie glared at Turnover. "I told you it was too weak." With that the alien teleported away.

ON THE SIDELINES

Haru and Sahara watched the battle in awe. Keiichiro and Ryou just watched like it was TV. 'They're used to it I guess,' thought Sahara. "I'm going to get closer," she said. No one answered so she ran up the side to get a better view. Bad idea.

TURNOVER POV

As soon as they Mews attacked I knew I made a bad mistake. I looked around the park to see if I could quickly make another anima. I found something better. On the ground watching the battle in amazement was a girl. I could hold her hostage and take her spirit. That would make up for the mess we where in now. The anima was soon gone so I teleported down to the girl and grabbed her. She tried to scream but my hand was over her mouth. She tried to bite my hand but I slapped her with my free hand and she stopped biting me. She still squirmed though. Baka human. I teleported back to the ship to tell the others my plan.

SAHARA POV

I was watching the battle amazed. It was awesome. I was pumped and REALLY wanted to transform. But Ryou said I couldn't. When the anima disappeared the aliens transported somewhere else. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and a hand clasped over my mouth. I tried to bite it but was slapped. I kept struggling. I was being kidnapped by an alien. On my birthday. Great. Just great. I slipped my pendant out my pocket so that they would know I had been kidnapped. As soon as it fell to the ground we teleported to the aliens' ship.

**Dun dun dun!** **For the names Davi has 2 more votes but that's all. I'll announce the name 2 chappies from now so next chappie will be the last to vote. So if you want to vote to get the names please vote. And please review. I need 40 reviews to continue. Yes I'm sorry that I'm threatening you guys but I'm doing 'cause I want to see if it will work. If I get 43 reviews I'll never threaten in this story again. I PROMISE! Okay? I luv ya'll and hope you enjoyed this chappie.**

Ryou: Review 'cause the next chappie Sahara learns her past about her parents and-

**knocks Ryou out I LUV YA'LL! JA NE!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm so sorry it took so long to post. I've been at camp for the past week and my cousins are over as we speak. So this chappie may not be as long as I would like. HAPPY 4TH! Anyhow here are the current name places are…. Daija 3, Gina 0, Hebi 0, Momzawa 0, Davi 3, and Satari 5. This is the last chappie to vote so VOTE PEOPLES! Thanks so much for your wonderful reviews. I luv that you all are so nice. I did not actually get 40 reviews but I don't care. I'm gonna keep going. I hope you enjoy this really drama like chappie.**

**Disclaim/ Turnover: **She doesn't own TMM. She owns me, that girl Sahara, and her boyfriend. And maybe the new character who turns up in this chappie.

**And now a special word from our helper, animegoddess12345!**

Animegoddess12345: She does not own TMM or do I. I own Haru. K'?

**And now a special word from our readers/reviewers!**

All reviewers/readers: We don't own TMM. YET! MUAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHA!

Me:P Same.**WE SHOULD ALL RULE TMM TOGETHER! YEAH!**

Everyone: YEAH!

All TMM characters: We should probably be scared.

**STORY TIME!**

**WITH THE MEWS**

All the Mews sighed in relief once the aliens had disappeared. "THERE IS A NEW GUY NA NO DA!" (A/N We can only guess who said that.)

Ryou flinched at the loud voice. "Yeah, we know."

All the Mews returned to normal and sighed again. Haru then suddenly burst in. "Sahara-chan is missing!"

"EH!"

Keiichiro smiled. "No she didn't. She said she was going to get a closer look at the battle."

Haru turned white. "She did?" Keiichiro nodded. Haru shakily held out her hand and opened it. In it was Sahara's henshin pendent. (A/N Henshin is transformation FYI.)

WITH SAHARA

Sahara opened her eyes to be greeted by metal. Everything was metal and looked cold. 'This must be their ship.' She struggled harder. She jammed her leg back as far as she could, wincing, and caused Turn to let go. She spun around and looked at him. Her eyes widened and turned green. She began to run.

"STOP," commanded a loud voice. Sahara didn't listen. She felt herself falling and being stepped on.

"He said stop," came a female voice. With a yank Sahara was on her feet and hands twisted behind her back.

"Here," came the female voice again. Sahara was shoved into someone else's hands. The girl floated into Sahara's gaze. Tart floated forward as well.

'What the heck? Am I seeing double," though Sahara.

The girl smiled. "I'm Tort. This is my twin brother Tart."

Sahara growled, "I know who he is." She felt someone grab her chin and yank her face toward them.

Kish grinned at her. "Well we have a pretty little neko here don't we."

Sahara's eyes turned a dark blazing red. "I'M NOT A CAT! I'M A SNAKE YOU BASTARD!"

Kish fell to the ground in surprise. "H-her eyes changed color!"

Turnover looked at Sahara and frowned. After a few seconds of thought he grinned. "You're that girl we're supposed to look at for. If we caught you we're supposed to return you to Area 61.'

Sahara's eyes turned a deeper red and a bit green. "Why do you know about Area 61?"

Kish squeaked to Pie, "LOOK! Her eyes did it again!" Pie snorted.

Turnover smiled. "The alien race runs it."

AT THE CAFÉ

Lettuce was worriedly pacing the café. Haru was right next to her doing the same thing. "What are we going to do," asked Haru.

Ryou leaned against the wall. "There is nothing we can do. We can't trace her because she doesn't have her pendant."

Pudding was hanging upside from the ceiling, Mint sipping tea, Zakuro sitting next to her, Keiichiro was baking something, and Ichigo glaring up at the ceiling.

Ichigo smashed her hand on the table, making Pudding fall from the ceiling onto Lettuce, who caught her. "We can't just wait until the aliens appear again! Who knows what they're doing to her?"

Ryou frowned. "We have no choice."

ALIEN SHIP

Sahara stuttered, "Y-you own it?'

Tart laughed, "Hai, we do."

Pie went over to the computer and typed in Sahara's name. In an instant, lots of information appeared on the screen, like her birthdate, blood type, age, etc.

Turnover grinned again. "It seems today is your birthday eh? Well that means I'll be nice and not steal you soul."

Tort said, "We can hold her hostage! And use her to catch the Mews."

Turnover ruffled her hair. "Good thinking munkin."

A shadow had formed over her face. Everyone was not paying attention until she began to talk. "You. You have made my entire life a big, fat, horrible, MESS! YOU HORRID BAKAS! I HATE YOU, HATE YOU, HATE YOU!"

Kish spoke up. "Too bad for you. Same goes here. You humans messed up all our lives."

Turnover teleported over to her. "It seems that now that you know about the alien race after catching the Mews we'll have to kill you. Just like we did with your parents."

"My parents? You killed my parents?"

"Hai. They found out to much for their own good. We took you to keep them silent but they came and tried to get you back. That's when we killed them"

Sahara's eyes turned such a deep red they looked black. "I. HATE. YOU!"

Tort smiled. "Too bad."

FONG RESIDENCE

"PUDDING ONEE-CHAN NA NO DA!"

Pudding was glomped by 5 hyper active kids and a monkey. Pudding laughed and rolled around tickling all the kids. The monkey jumped onto Pudding's head.

"Pudding onee-chan, where is Sahara onee-chan na no da," asked Heicha.

Pudding sighed. "Let's just say she got lost and isn't coming back until we find her na no da."

ALIEN SHIP

"In," commanded Pie. Sahara was thrown into a metal cell. "You'll be staying here until we need you. No trying to escape. It's impossible. The probability that you'll escape is 0.99."

"I don't need to know numbers you murder."

Pie slammed the door shut and Sahara was left alone. A minute later Sahara's eyes turned a sea blue and she started to sob. She was sobbing so loudly that she didn't hear the door to her cell open. "Here," called a hesitant voice. Sahara stopped sobbing immeditaly and stood up, ready to fight. "I don't want to fight. I just want to give you some food and talk." Sahara put her fists down but stayed standing up. Tort walked forward. She handed Sahara a loaf of bread and a jug of some liquid. "Eat," commanded Tort. Sahara gingerly sat down and began to nibble at the bread.

Tort watched her and sighed. "Our race isn't really that bad. I don't want to fight but my brother needs help. He. Kish, and Pie don't want to fight either. Tart doesn't want to hurt Pudding, Kish doesn't want to hurt Ichigo, and Pie doesn't want to hurt Zakuro."

Sahara eyed her. "Really?" She decided it was best that she would pretend she didn't know who they were. "Who are they?"

Tort sighed again. "The purple Mew is Zakuro, The pink, Ichigo, and the yellow, Pudding." Tort's abnormally ears perked up. "Someone is coming. Ja ne!" Tort teleported away.

**Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I'm sorry it took so long to get this chappie out. VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE NAMES! THIS IS THE LAST CHAPPIE TO DO SO! IF YOU DON'T VOTE A NAME YOU DON'T LIKE COULD BE CHOSEN! You may vote twice this chappie as it's the last. So if you like Satari and Davi you could vote for both. I hope you like the new characters. Ja ne for now! Mew-Sahara out!**


	13. Chapter 13

**ARGH! Gomen it took so long. I've been doing other things. Word got messed up so I couldn't type but I fixed it. I really have no excuse for not updating. I was lazy. Actually I was watching anime. I was watching Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. Then I broke youtube. Then it fixed itself and now I'm semi-bored and I feel bad for not updating. Oh yes. The winner of the contest is….. Drumroll please. Pudding comes in and bang on a gong SATARI! Satari had a whopping 8 votes. And now here are the rest of the name places: Davi with 4, Daija with 3, Hebi had 1, and Momozawa and Gina had 0. So hopefully you shall see that name appear soon. I'm gonna try and make this chappie longer than usual. Enjoy.**

**D: I no own TMM. Or MMPPP. Or Haru. She's animegoddess12345's. I own Tort, Turnover, David, Sahara, other possible characters soon to come, and this really cool Cascada CD I bought at Barnes & Noble. It cost $19! Oh and I own some manga books too.**

**People I also own Sahara's and Tort's attacks. I was reading a story and not only did the person have the same attack they have somewhat the same weapon. I don't blame them for using it and I'm not gonna stop them. Please ask though. Truthfully yes it's different but I mean it's just Ribbon (enter name here) Shake! Same as Sahara's almost. I think I'm making a big deal of nothing so I'm gonna stop now.**

Sahara pushed herself to a standing position again, but fell back down. She swore violently. "Damn leg. I stupid went and broke it and it hasn't healed. I'm gonna feel this all tomorrow."

A faced peeked in through the door. "Swearing at such a young age can give a bad impression."

Sahara growled back, "I don't give a crap to impressions with you… Aliens. Leave me alone for God's sake."

Kish's voice came back, "Well whatever." He muttered, "It better kick in soon." Sahara ignored the last comment. She sighed.

"Oh crap! I was supposed to make dinner for the kids tonight!"

FONG RESIDENCE

"AHHHHH NA NO DA!"

A distressed Pudding was being glomped by all her brothers and sister. "We're hungry na no da!"

SHIP

"She's doomed." A snapping sound was heard and Sahara's head snapped up. Tort stared back in her face. "ARGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Shhh! You'll attract attention!"

"I care why?"

Tort just glared at her. "Trust me you don't want to get mixed up with them."

Sahara groaned and laid herself out on the floor. "Tort?"

"Eh?"

"Why are you telling me all this stuff about everyone?"

"Because A) You're going to die anyway and B) There are no girls to talk to on this ship."

Sahara glared again. "What if I don't die?"

Tort paused. "Then if you tell anyone but the Mews what you heard, you die. I will track you down and kill you myself."

Sahara was about to comment when a wave of nausea hit her. She fell back onto the floor and was knocked unconscious.

"Good night, Sahara-chan."

NEXT DAY

Sahara groaned and opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was she was talking to Tort and then she felt sick. She looked around. Pie was sitting at a computer as well as Turn. They were talking quietly. Kish was lounging on one of those giant pillar things. Tart was arguing with his twin in another corner. Sahara was about to yell out but she was gagged so that didn't do much. Turn came up and looked into her eyes, which turned a fire engine red.

"Our plan will go into phase 1 at 1500 hours. That gives you…. 10 minutes to enjoy your last few minutes on our lovely ship. Enjoy."

Tort stood behind Turn and gave Sahara a sad look. Sahara's eyes didn't change. 'This is bad. What am I going to do? I can't transform. But maybe when we go down one of the Mews will give me my pendant. Then I can kick some butt.'

Kish grinned at her. "Pie said you have a 2.34 chance of escaping. Which I think means that you aren't going anywhere."

Sahara crossed her eyes at him. All she got was a sharp slap to the head. 'I'm losing more and more brain cells every second I stay on this ship,' Sahara though grumpily.

A siren went off. Pie said in a monotone, "Success rate, 97.89 Let's go." With that he grabbed a rope attached to Sahara (A/N she was tied up FYI.) and they all teleported to Tokyo Tower.

CAFÉ

In the basement of the café Ryou was sitting glaring at the computer screen. Keiichiro entered the room and noticed his intense stare. "What's up?"

Ryou kept glaring at the screen. "I can't say for sure but I think I'm picking up Mew power and alien power. The aliens are at work. Get the girls and let's go. It's coming from Tokyo Tower."

**I first off would like to apologize for more horrid grammar and spelling. I wrote "yinced" in like chappie 2. Forgive me. I would also like to alpologize that this took so long to get out AND it's not as long as I said it was. GOMEN NASAI GOMEN NASAI GOMEN NASAI! Lettuce!**

**Lettuce: Hai?**

**Me: Please apologize to the readers and tell them what they get because they read.**

**Lettuce: Mew-Sahara is ETREMELY sorry for taking so long. She gives a plushie of Haru, Sahara, and Tort to all who read this. If you review she will give all of ya'll who have ever reviewed this story and honorable mention in the next chappie. Gomen nasai it took so long.**

**Me: I… Err….. Busy? With camp.**

**Sahara: That and you were watching Naruto.**

**Me: knocks Sahara out Gomen for the wait. Please review and thanks to all who read!**


	14. Chapter 14

**HOLA! I. AM. BACK! people throw rotten food at me Gomen nasai because it took SO long to update. The most honorable updates will be at the bottom. My internet is screwing up at the moment so I will tell ya'll when it works. But! I do have a mention that cannot wait. Meow55 my first ever reviewer, I thank you with all my heart. I've noticed lately that for some odd reason, not as many reviews were coming in. Is it because of the couples? My writing? I'm sorry of I disrespected anyone with my writing. That's an authors' worst nightmare, to hurt someone in his or her writing. Gomen nasai if I did. I'm also very sorry I took forever to update. The good news…. I GOT FRUITS BASKET 14! SWEETNESS! WHOOT! Ok. Onto the story na no da!**

**Disclaim: I don't care anymore. I don't own TMM, Haru, Hikaru (comes later ya'll), and more 2 come characters. I'll tell ya later. I DO own Sahara, David, and Tort. 'K? **

**NEWS BROADCAST IMPORTANT: I noticed a HUGE mistake I made. In the last chappie I put that her eyes turned blue. The "sad" color I have is purple. I connected blue to sad in my brain without thinking. So I'd like to say if you're taking note, the new "sad" color is BLUE. ONTO THE STORY NA NO DA!**

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Everyone was rushing around working, excluding Mint; who Ichigo was getting seriously pissed at. "MINT YOU SHOULD BE WORKING!"

"It's my tea time."

"That's what you always say!"

"It's true."

Ichigo was about to yell back when Keiichiro rushed into the café area. He said in a low voice, "Close the café. Now. The aliens are at it again. And they have Sahara with them."

"Sahara-chan," asked Haru from the kitchen. (She has to work there because she has no uniform yet.)

Keiichiro nodded.

Pudding stuck her head out of the kitchen, "Then let's go na no da!" She jumped up on to the counter and yelled, "Sorry for the inconvenience na no da! The café must close early today na no da! Again sorry for the inconvenience na no da!"

Many of the customers groaned but everyone rose to their feet and grabbed any doggy bags for leftover food. Lettuce stood by the door, smiling and telling people to come back soon. As soon as all the customers left, everyone quickly rushed to the basement for a quick update.

Sahara; gagged and tied; was watching as Turn and Pie tied her to the antenna of the Tower. She glared at them angrily. A thought suddenly came to her head. If she could just get them to take off her gag things would be much easier. She selected her prey.

She glared at Tort, who realizing that she was being glared at turned around. Noticing that Sahara was glaring at her, and then trying to chew at her gag Tort easily got the message. "Hey, Pie?"

"Nani?" (A/N What in Japanese.)

"Should we take her gag off? She's been good and not trying to escape." (Tort is not trying to help Sahara escape. Just wants her to be able to breathe.)

Pie looked at Sahara, who tried to look as innocent as possible. "Fine." Then directing his speech at Sahara, he said, "If you say anything without permission or pull any tricks it goes back on."

Sahara cheered in her head. Now if that was coming off all she had to do was figure out a plan…

$$$$$$$$$$$&&&&&&&&&

"Got the plan? Just head to Tokyo Tower. The aliens already have a chimera anima out. Defeat that, grab Sahara, give her this," handing Sahara's pendant to Haru, "get rid of the aliens and get back here ASAP."

"Right," everyone chorused.

"Ryou," said Haru.

"Eh?"

"What should I do? I want to help. I'm not taking no as an answer either."

Ryou paused and looked to Keiichiro, who made a motion with his hands. He turned back to Haru. "We do have a few weapons you can use. But, keep in mind you can't do nearly as many things as the Mews can."

Haru smirked. "And your point is?"

Keiichiro handed her what looked like a gun. "It has a freezing ray, and stun ray, and a laser in it. Use it responsibly."

"Hai!"

"Tokyo Mew Mew! And Haru. GO!"

Sahara stood (well, not really) and glared at Kish. "Hebi (snake) girl, you're really weird."

"And the pot calls the kettle black." (If you don't know what this means you can ask me.)

Pie chuckled at that. Everyone else just looked at each other like 'What-the-hell-does-it-mean?'

"PIE! TELL ME WHAT THE HEBI GIRL MEANS!"

Pie smirked, "Well say someone never brushes their hair. If they say to someone 'You never brush your hair!' that is saying that it's like if the pot called the kettle black, even if the pot was black. Understand?"

"So in other words," Kish said, "she was calling me weird." Pie nodded.

Kish opened his mouth to say something to Sahara but she beat him to it. "So, what's like living in a constant haze of stupidity?"

"Well, it very diffic- HEY!" Everyone was cracking up. Yes, even Pie. Kish slapped Sahara upside the head. She just smirked.

"Don't talk it makes you sound stupid," Sahara quipped.

Kish popped a vain. "YOU"RE PURPOSELY ANNOYING ME!"

"Yep."

"Hey idiots over there, shut up and come look at my new creation," called Turn. Everyone looked at the huge bird chimera anima.

"COOL," yelled Tart and Tort at the same time.

Sahara shivered as she looked into it's eyes. Snake instincts took over. She flicked her tongue out of her mouth. 'They're almost here! The Mews are almost here! And Haru's with them!' Sahara looked down from the top. She could she them running up the stairs. Turn noticed that she was looking down and followed her gaze.

"It's seems we have some visitors. CHIMERA ANIMA! GO!"

With a loud caw the bird swooped at the girls. Sahara heard Lettuce cry out.

The battle had begun.

&&&&&&&&&&&((((((((($$$$$$$$$

**DUN DUN DUN DDDUNNNNNNNNNN! MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! EVIL CLIFFIE! MUAHAHAHHA! HERE ARE THE MENTIONS! Thank you to Applecake, animegoddess12345 (now TRICKxORxTREAT), Tomoyo Kinomoto, penKittyChan, -Meowi-, TsukiKunai, Silver Artic Wolf, Malaya (), Meow55, Tenchi Lily**, **Ferret Love (), Saingirl101**, **and** **imsocrazy. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! I'M SO HAPPY! THANK YOU ALL! YOU ALL GET A GIANT COOKIE THAT NEVER ENDS! YEAH! Now I'm tired from writing so much. Sorry for taking SO long to update. And sorry that this is short. I wanted to make it longer but I REALLY wanted to get this chapter out. Thanks again for revewing. Mew-Sahara OUT! **


	15. Chapter 15

**I'M BACK!!! gets pelted by rotten food and objects AH!!! GOMEN NASAI!!!! I know I'm stupid and I suck. With school, and all the stuff I've been going through…. I managed to get all A's so that's good. - I'm sure no one cares though. Thanks to the reviewers who helped pull me through my hiatus period to be writing now. The Internet is dead so that also helps me want to write. -;; I'm sorry that I made you all hate me and haven't updated in 1 to 2 months…**

Ichigo+Aoyama-kun4ever**: Actually the scientists didn't know she has powers. They still don't. I'm SO sorry that I haven't updated. Thanks for telling me about beta-readers. I'm also sorry for the cliffie, but I can't resist. evil grin**

-Meowi-**: YEAH! YOUR BACK! PARTY! dances **

**I'm sorry that I couldn't respond to all your reviews if I didn't already. I WILL THOUGH! I SHALL TRY! I'm SO sorry it took so long. sobs WILL YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?! I hope so. I'm going to try and make this relatively long. Things have been crazy at my house. Chair tests at school, WKCE's, piano (an up coming recital), my birthday, friends, school in general, and just plain old other things.**

**Sahara: Like watching Naruto.**

**Me: knocks her out Heh, heh…**

**Disclaim: Heck why should I have to say anything? What if I actually own TMM? What ya gonna do lawyers? You can't touch this!**

**Men in black: come and drag me to place with padded walls**

**Me: pokes walls SQUISHY! YEAH!**

**Everyone: o.o**

**TALLY HO!!!!!!!!!!**

_Last time…. _

_Sahara heard Lettuce cry out._

_The battle had begun._

As the chimera swooped at the Mews, everyone dived out of the way, Zakuro grabbing Haru and dragging her out of the way. The chimera pulled back up and hovered as it glared at the Mews.

"Koneko-chan," cried Kish.

"Tar-Tar," called Pudding. "HI, NA NO DA!"

Tart groaned.

"Ready… Set…," yelled Ichigo.

"Lettuce Castanets!"

"Strawberry Bell Bell!"

"Pudding Rings!"

"Mint Arrow!"

"Zakuro Whip!"

Haru pulled out her gun.

"GO!"

Sahara grinned. They were here. Finally.

"GO!" With that yell the Mews and Haru left into action. Ichigo, Mint, and Zakuro went for the Chimera. Pudding and Lettuce stood in front of the aliens. Haru had seemed to have disappeared.

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

" Ribbon Strawberry Check!"

"Ribbon Mint Arrow!"

The attacks flung themselves at the chimera, which with a wave of its wings, repelled the attack.

"What?"

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

The monster repelled it again.

"Aim at the lower part. Everyone aim for a different part. We should be able to wear it down," commanded Zakuro.

"Right!"

"Tar-Tar! Why are you doing this na no da?"

"Because you dolt we have to!"

"Enough! Fu Rai Sen," called Pie sending out on of his attacks.

Lettuce and Pudding dove out of the way.

"Pudding does not want to hurt you, na no da, but if you are bad Pudding will na no da."

"Y-yes. Harming our friends is not a good way to go," stuttered Lettuce.

(Kish, Tort, and Turnover are all over by the Chimera.)

"We don't care! Fu Rai Sen!"

Another dive.

"PUDDING WARNED YOU NA NO DA! RIBBON PUDDING RING INFERNO!" A giant blob of gelatin flew at Tart and Pie, who easily dodged it.

"This is going to be interesting," quipped Tart as he pulled out his weapon. He quickly flung it at Lettuce, who countered it.

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"

The blast of water shot right back at Tart as well as his weapon thingy.

Sahara struggled against the ropes. "LET ME OUT DAMMIT! I WANNA FIGHT TOO!"

"Shuddup!" A blast of something came flinging at her.

Sahara's eyes searched everywhere for Haru where was she?

GROUND LEVEL NA NO DA

A group of people and newscasts were gathered at the bottom of Tokyo Tower, while other people all over the city watched from the newscasters' views (it had been ruled unsafe for helicopters to go around the battle scene.) People watched the battle (what they could see of it) on the computer, on TV, from the giant TV screens in the street.

Two boys, in two separate places, stared up at the screen in wonder.

A girl, away from the boys, glanced at the screen with interest. "The Mews, eh," she whispered.

Haru glanced worriedly up at Sahara. She didn't look too good. 'I need to get her out of there. But how?'

"LET ME OUT DAMMIT! I WANNA FIGHT TOO!" came to Haru's ears. "Sahara's just as feisty as ever," she whispered amused.

Glancing over to Zakuro, who stood near where Sahara was tied gave Haru an idea. 'It'll work! I know it will!'

"Mew Zakuro," she yelled.

Zakuro turned her head. "Throw me up," yelled Haru again, as she raced toward Zakuro.

Zakuro nodded and cupped her hands, and as Haru's feet made contact with them, thrust them upward. Once in the air, Haru got a laser beam at the Chimera and quickly turned to Sahara, whose eyes had lighten up. "Don't move," she called to her. A quick freeze ray to the ropes and some pressure against them, and they broke. Now free of the ropes and with her pendant coming toward her, Sahara caught it. Haru landed next to her.

"MEW MEW SAHARA METAMORPHOSIS!"

A flash of brown light and Mew Sahara came to stand next to Haru.

"ALL RIGHT! LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! SAHARA RATTLES!" Sahara's rattles appeared in her hands and she grinned. Thrusting them forward she cried, "MEW MEW POWER, MEW MEW SASS! MEW MEW POWER UP YOUR –"

At that, Haru's hand had clamped over Sahara's mouth. "You're a superhero. Get some better language."

"Do I have to?"

"No," grinned Haru.

"SWEET!"

"You better go help the rest of them. They look like the could need it."

"Yeah, yeah. Go join Lettuce and Pudding. They could probably use some help though."

"Fine. BREAK!"

The friends spilt to go off and finish battle.

Haru quickly sent a freeze beam in both alien groups directions, hoping to hit at least on of the aliens. She succeeded. She hit Kish, who had been hugging Ichigo; Pie who had been fighting; and finally Tart, who was also fighting.

"YES," came a happy yell from Haru.

"Haru onee-chan! I was going to teach Tar-Tar how to be nice na no da! But you went and froze him na no da!"

Lettuce knocked on the hard outer shell that encased both aliens. "Keiichiro-san and Shiogane-san did a good job with that gun."

"Yep!"

( A lot of these aren't there?)

Sahara landed onto on the large chuck on ice that was Kish.

"Holy crap," muttered Ichigo.

"I'll congratulate the boys later for their good work," said Mint.

"Nice catch phrase, Mew Sahara," stated Zakuro.

"Arigato!"

Turn's weapon flew at Sahara, striking her on the shoulder.

"Ow." Sahara grabbed the weapon. "You're going to pay for that!" Taking aim she flung it back smacking Turn in the face.

Tort burst out laughing, but quickly quieted after getting a 'I-will-kill-you-later' look from Turn.

"GO CHIMERA!"

The chimera cawed and rocketed toward the girls. Mint, Zakuro, and Ichigo flung themselves out of the way as well as sending attacks in its direction. Sahara jumped onto the chimera, after the other Mews attacks had hit. She pointed her rattles at the bird's back. "RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!" A large blast of air and sound hit the bird making it disappear, a parasite and small crow appearing in its place. Masha swooped at the parasite and swallowed it.

"Recovery, recovery," it chirped.

Ichigo snuggled Masha. "Good job, Masha!"

"Good job, good job," it chanted back.

Turn growled. He pulled out another parasite, and apparently and animal too, because a second chimera was standing in front of the Mews, who had all gathered together. It was what looked like a butterfly, but it was rather poorly made for a chimera.

It made Mint burst out in laughter. "That's going to be gone in no time flat!"

"Don't be so sure," said Turn. "GO CHIMERA!"

"Why again," complained Ichigo. But as she dived out of the way, it was not headed for Ichigo, Mint, Zakuro, Lettuce, or even Haru. It appeared to be headed straight for Sahara.

'Crap.' Sahara dodged the chimera. 'This is not good. I don't have much power left, and what little I have is fading. This is bad.'

"Mew Sahara Shake," she cried.

"Mew Sahara Shake," again.

She heard Pudding begin to yell an attack, but was stopped by Zakuro.

"The chimera anima and Sahara are going at each other at too close of a range. You can't hit one with out risking hitting the other."

"Well, then we need to improve are aim," muttered Haru. "We need to help her."

"That shouldn't the only thing on your mind," came a hiss from behind them. Turn burst into the scene with Tort following close behind. "You can't help your little friend if you're busy fighting us!"

Pie suddenly burst into the crowd too, he was the only one of the frozen to thaw yet.

"Now you're hands are really full! What will you do Mews and new girl," cackled Turn.

'There's only one thing left to do,' thought Sahara. She began to run near the edge, and she could hear shouts of warning. But she knew that's where the edge was, that's why she was there. She lined her heels up with the edge.

"HERE YOU STUPID BUTTERFLY! YOUR MOMMA WAS ON CHER'S BUTT!"

The chimera flew at Sahara in rage.

Sahara took a deep breath, leaned back, and began to freefall off the top of Tokyo Tower.

**YES! IT'S DONE! WHOOT! I'm sorry again this took so long. I hope this nice and long for everyone. I hope you liked it and I also sorta hope that you'll review. But I don't care if you do, as long as you have read this. If you don't understand the Cher and butterfly joke, Cher who's a famous singer I think, had a tattoo of a butterfly on her butt. I randomly thought of that when writing that, so I'm like, "That's an awesome diss against a chimera anima butterfly!" So yeah. That's were it came from. I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry it took so long to get this out there. Sorry if there are any stupid mistakes. I wanted to get this out really fast so that everyone could read it! Hope you like it again!**

**Mew-Sahara**

**P.S. 9 PAGES BABY!! BOO YEAH!**


	16. Chapter 16

**HI!!!!! I'M BBBBBAAAAACCCCCKKKK!!!! starts bawling tears of joy THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I got so many reviews. Even more then any other chapter I think. Thank you all so much. Dark Flamingo and X-Hazelnut-X, welcome! - Anyway I'm writing now because, A) I have time and B) the Internet is being odd again. So here I am. I realized that my page breaker that I've been trying to use is not showing up. That's why all my writing is so weird and messy. :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMM. Or do I? I do own Sahara, David, Turn, and Tort. I do NOT own Haru, Hikaru, possible other characters and… That's all I got. **

**HERE WE GO!!!**

---

_**"HERE YOU STUPID BUTTERFLY! YOUR MOMMA WAS ON CHER'S BUTT!"**_

_**The chimera flew at Sahara in rage.**_

_**Sahara took a deep breath, leaned back, and began to freefall off the top of Tokyo Tower.**_

---

Haru and the rest of the Mews cried out in horror as they watched their fellow Mew/friend freefall of the top of Tokyo Tower.

Turn's, Tort's, and Pie's eyes slightly widened in surprise. "Baka," Turn muttered.

(Below, ground level) ---

Yells came from people all over Tokyo who had been watching the battle. As far as they could see, a small black figure was plummeting toward them (as well as the ground), and a large butterfly-like thing trying to attack the little black figure. People in the area began to run away from the area at the base of the Tower in fear.

(Top level, with Mews)---

Haru began to run toward the edge, but was quickly caught by Zakuro. "What are you doing? We have to save her," cried Haru.

"There has to be a logical explanation for her doing that. She wouldn't just jump for no reason what so ever."

"Yeah, explanation is suicide! No one is going to be able to get her! Just the ground."

"She knew that someone would save her."

"None of us are even making a move!"

By now the rest of the Mews had come over and joined them. Lettuce was peering over the edge. "Look!"

The rest of the Mews, excluding Zakuro and Haru (who were still fighting), raced over and looked over the edge as well.

They could hear cries of "RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!" multiple times, but the attacks ended smashing into the tower instead, as the chimera kept dodging.

---

Sahara hissed angrily. Damn chimera kept moving. She flung herself sideways and the chimera. She quickly looked down at the fast approaching ground. 'This is the last shot I have. Please come soon,' Sahara thought desperately.

With the final cry of "RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!" Sahara put all her power into the shot. The chimera let out a final, defeated cry as it disappeared, leaving a jellyfish type thing, as well as a fluttering butterfly.

Sahara shot out her arm in an attempt to grab something, anything, to keep her from becoming part of the ground. As she felt her hand and arm snag something a wave of relief passed over her, and it took almost all of her power to stay conscious. She opened her eyes and grinned up into the face of her savior.

---

The crowd below, after an official evacuation was declared, was in a panic but a single voice rose among the rest, "LOOK!" Most of the more gathered people took time to look. Several more voices rose in unison after the first voice, confirming the need to look above them. Many more people looked up, to see that whatever the black thing had been had sent a brown wave at the monster, and the monster, in turn, had disappeared. The black thing then had suddenly been pulled back up by another black thing, the first one hanging on for dear life.

Around all of Tokyo, people watched in awe as the second figure flung the first up over the top of Tokyo Tower, the first landing and been taken out of sight, and then the second vanished.

---

Sahara grinned up at Tort. "Thanks. I was expecting you. You could have come earlier."

"Gomen, but all the aliens, not including the ones your friend froze, were busy and would have easily missed me. And you better not think this means I'm on your side. I just wanted to save you. I wouldn't be able to fight you and it wouldn't be fun fighting if you were dead."

---

Lettuce screamed and fell over. The Mews (who had tried to calm down Haru) turned and saw Sahara standing on the railing by the edge. "Hi!"

Haru yelled at her, "What the hell was that!? You could have died!"

Sahara smiled. "But I knew a certain person would save me. That's all I needed for reassurance."

"STOP ACTING ALL CALM!!!"

Sahara grinned now. "Gomen, gomen."

"And now," said Ichigo, "we finish them off."

Everyone turned to the aliens. Sahara made quick eye contact with Tort, but she looked away after a second.

"Retreat," yelled Turn. "Grab Kish and Tart and let's go!"

Sahara ran forward and pulled her weapon in front of her. "RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!!!"

Turn dodged, and the attack hit the block of ice that was Kish. The ice shattered and Kish stood there staring around. "What the heck," he said confused.

"Ribbon Sahara Shake!" Pie reached out and pulled Kish out of the way of the attack.

Sahara threw her attack at Turn again. 'How can she have any power left,' he thought.

'How can I have any power left?!'

Turn dodged the attack again. "Ribbon Sahara Shake!" This time it finally hit his shoulder. As he grabbed it Sahara shot another attack. Haru grabbed her gun and shot it too. "Ribbon Sahara Shake!" The laser shot toward Turn. With a volley of swear words he transported a bit away.

"Let's go!"

He quickly disappeared, as did a confused Kish, an angry Pie, and what looked like Tort trying to hold the block of ice that was Tart.

"Finally," breathed Ichigo and Mint in syncopation. Pudding cheered. "YEAH NA NO DA! We all did it na no da! You did a good job Sahara-nee-chan na no da! Sahara-nee-chan na no da?"

At the moment Pudding had congratulated her Sahara had collapsed to the ground, but Haru and shot out an arm (she was next to her) and grabbed her. Haru straightened Sahara into a standing position but Sahara was out like a light. "She's sleeping," Haru exclaimed.

Sahara was smiling slightly in all her sleeping glory and Haru just sighed. "That is so like her." A crack of pain shot through her legs. "And I'm going to have bruises to mark this special occasion as well."

Zakuro gave a small smile. "Let's go. Mew Mint, Mew Ichigo, and Mew Lettuce go help explain it to the public. Don't take too long. Get back to the café when you're done." Everyone began to walk down the stairs, and once near the bottom, Pudding, Zakuro, and Haru who was carrying Sahara, all slipped out a side window and left the rest of the Mews to explain to the public.

---

"Ryou-nii-chan na no da! We're back na no da! And we have Sahara-nee-chan!"

Keiichiro stuck his head out of the kitchen. "Ryou is in the basement." He glanced over at Sahara who was snoozing in Haru's arms. "You can put Sahara in the back room." (A/N As for the back room, you know that one from the episode when Ichigo's friends turned into Chimeras and then the put them in the back room.)

"We should report to Shirogane-san first though," Haru said.

"Oh yes, girls," began Keiichiro.

Pudding and Zakuro turned around. Haru was already by the basement door. "You might want to transform back to normal."

Pudding and Zakuro glowed with their colors and then stood there in their regular clothes. Pudding skipped over to the basement door and Zakuro walked after her. The 3 of them walked down into the basement (A/N Sahara's not walking.)

"Shirogane-san," called Haru.

"Hm?" Ryou slid into their view on a rolly chair.

"We have Sahara-nee-chan na no da," chirped Pudding.

Haru placed Sahara on her feet and held onto her shoulder so she wouldn't flop to the floor.

"Good. Is she sleeping?"

"Yes."

"Do think you can get her back upstairs and make her de-transform?"

Sahara glowed and stood in her clothes, which were rather dirty.

"We can get her upstairs, yes."

"Put her in the back room. Then I guess you can open the café."

"WHA!?"

Ryou glanced back up. "You need to earn money right? Well, get cracking."

Haru growled and Zakuro just gave another small smile (A/N Twice in a day. Wow.) Pudding cheered. "Let's go na no da!!"

---

After an interesting time trying to explain to the public what had happened (without telling about Sahara and Haru) Mint, Ichigo, and Lettuce trudged back to the café. To Ichigo's disbelief, the café had been opened and a small trickle was passing through the doors. (A/N They already were back to normal.) "RYOU! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!!!!"

As Ichigo and Mint stormed inside and changed, Lettuce meekly followed. Soon everyone one was working, not including Sahara.

A few sounds around the café where as follows:

"MINT! GET TO WORK! (Ichigo)

"It's my tea time." (Mint)

"I can type with my elbows na no da!" (Pudding)

Crash of dishes. "Gomen!" (Lettuce)

Clink of glass on table. "…" (Zakuro)

"Oh my god! It's going to explode! DUCK IN COVER!" (Haru in kitchen)

Ducking. BOOM! "Sigh…" (Keiichiro, with Haru)

"Zzz…" (Sahara)

"I can't tell if this is Mew Aqua or not… Dammit." (Ryou in basement)

---

Sahara snored softly. Haru sighed. "How long can one girl sleep?"

Ryou laughed slightly. "I guess she's really worn out. Not very surprising. She must have used up almost all of her power."

"That's true…"

"Are you staying here tonight?"

"It appears so. I can just sleep in here. Unless Sahara wakes up. If she does will be staying at Pudding's. Sahara's been working herself crazy here. She made a deal with Pudding or something. In order for us to stay with her, Sahara offered to pay Pudding. Pudding refused, but Sahara's making her take it. Said something about a harsh life, and not enough time off."

Ryou said, "That's not very surprising. Pudding lives alone with her siblings because her dad is abroad studying material arts or something… Her mother died."

"That does make sense. Sahara doesn't like people to go through what she has. At least the hard times. I really feel bad for Sahara. But you know," Haru said looking at Ryou. "You making her a Mew is probably the best thing that has happened to her in her life. You took a load off of her and I. Arigato."

"You're welcome."

Sahara groaned in her sleep.

"I guess I'm staying here tonight…"

Suddenly, Sahara shot up gasping for air. She looked at a very surprised Ryou and Haru. "What time is it?"

Startled Ryou glanced down at his watch. "About 16 o'clock." (A/N You should hopefully know this. About 4 o'clock.)

Sahara grabbed Haru's hand. "We have to go! I need to cook dinner, I wasn't able to last night! I owe Pudding! Hello Ryou-nii-chan. BUT COME ON HARU-NEE-CHAN! Let's go."

Sahara was out of the bed and across the room, dragging Haru, out the door, and half way out of the café before Haru realized what was going on. "Wha," she began, startled.

"Come on! Run as fast as you can! We need to be there now!"

Sahara had started running and was already down by the corner before Haru had started running. As she shot around the corner, a red haired boy noticed her hair tailing behind her, and started to say her name, but Haru was gone. The boy stood there looking stunned.

---

Pudding heard a frantic knocking on her door. "I'll get it na no da!" As she opened the door she saw an anxious Sahara and a panting Haru. "Sahara-nee-chan and Haru-nee-chan na no da! What are you doing here now na no da?"

"Pudding, have you started dinner yet," asked Sahara.

"Nope na no da! Why na no da?"

"It was my turn last night, so I need to make it tonight!"

Haru wheezed, "Since when do you cook?"

Sahara retorted, "I won't be saying that if I were you. You blew up the cake today."

"How did you know?"

"On the way out I saw Keiichiro cleaning the kitchen still."

"But why me?"

"You're the only one who doesn't have a uniform yet."

"Hmp."

"But anyways, Pudding, I'll make dinner!"

As they entered the kitchen, they were greeted by the chorus of voices saying, "WELCOME BACK SAHARA-NEE-CHAN! We're hungry!"

---

"Thank was good na no da," sighed Pudding.

"Hai, na no da," came the call of 8 other voices.

"O.k. I take back my saying you couldn't cook."

Sahara smirked. "I've learned a lot recently!"

"Bedtime na no da!"

"Aw," came the groan from all the kids. "Let's go na no da!"

--- (Several bedtime stories, hugs and kisses, and rounds of wrestling later…)

"Here you go na no da!" Pudding smiled proudly at 2 futons on the ground.

"Ah, arigato Pudding-chan," sighed Haru happily as she plopped onto the futon.

"Pudding-chan, is there anything you need from the store," asked Sahara.

"Why na no da?"

" I just slept for quite a few hours on end so I'm not tired. I'm going to go to the store and pick up a few things."

"Well, there are a few things na no da…"

---

Sahara whistled happily on the way back from the grocery store. Things weren't half bad today. She decided to take the longer way back from the grocery store to Pudding's house.

As she was walking and hoisting the big bag in front of her, she accidentally walked straight into someone. As they collided the bag fell to the ground, a few of its contents rolling out. "Gomen nasai, I wasn't watching where I was going."

She looked up into the strangers face and gasped. 'Not good. Not good!'

"What would a girl like you be doing out so late," the stranger slurred. It was a man, more importantly a drunk man. A drunk perverted man. That's never a good thing.

"J-just picking up some groceries," Sahara squeaked. She quickly shoved all the contents of the bag back into it, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible.

"If you have so much free time, then why don't you spend it with me?"

"No," Sahara said.

"Come on, why not?"

"No," she repeated firmly.

The man grabbed her wrist. He smelled of alcohol and rotten food.

"No," slightly louder then before.

"I asked you a question," he hissed.

"No!"

He grabbed her entire body. She couldn't move, let alone attack him.

"NO!"

She tried to squirm.

"Answer me!"

"NO!!"

Suddenly, the man's grip relaxed, then he let go, and fell to the ground. Behind the man, of all people, stood David.

Sahara gasped. "David-san!"

Soon a policeman had come over and hauled the drunken man away. Sahara grabbed her bag and bowed to David.

"Arigato for saving me. I am in your debt."

"A girl shouldn't be out alone late at night."

Sahara replied angrily, "So what if I'm a girl!? I could have taken care of myself!"

"But you couldn't right then."

"He had me in his grip! I couldn't move!"

"But you couldn't have taken care of yourself. You're lucky I came along."

"Maybe I am."

David smiled. "Do you want me to walk you back to your house?"

Sahara smiled too. "Sure."

They began to walk toward Pudding's house. "Let's take the path through the park," said Sahara.

David shrugged. "Fine with me."

As they walked through the park, Sahara sighed happily. "It's so nice out tonight."

"It wasn't so this afternoon though. Did you see the Mews on T.V.?"

"Yeah."

"They said something about the aliens had taken a civilian hostage and they had put her in the care of some medics after ward."

Sahara smiled slightly. " Yes, I heard that."

"Yeah…"

A gust of wind blew some leaves past them as the two of them stood there. Sahara blinked and suddenly she found herself a few inches from David's face. She leaned in for a kiss, but sharply pulled away. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. She turned and ran as fast as she possibly could all the way back to Pudding's house.

She dropped the bag on the counter and buried herself under the covers of the futon. She cried softly. 'Why? Why?'

---

**DUN DUN DUN!!!! Ah, young love. Anyway I made this as long as I thought I should, this was 13 word pages double-spaced. I hope you enjoyed it and** **would review. You don't have to though. I had fun writing this. I was originally going to end this at like 4 word pages, because more suspense would build up. It was a lot more fun to write this longer. And the red hair boy will be appearing soon, so TRICKXORXTREAT be ready. ;) Ja ne everyone.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello. I'm trying to update regularly (Sahara: How often is that?) and make the chapters long. I'm hoping I'm succeeding. I'm writing this on a snow day! KYA! I love snow! We got 10 inches up here. So I'm writing today. I finished the end of the last chapter today, and so I'm starting this now so I won't get behind.**

**Disclaimer: I no own. I own Sahara, David, Turn, and Tort. I don't own TMM, or Haru, Hikaru, or other characters to come.**

**Dear god. I looked back at how I used to write. How could you guys read that? I thought 5 Word pages was long! I thought 9 Word pages was long… I wrote so bad, spelled things wrong. I really did suck. I think I came a long way since then… Thanks you everyone's support. **

**I looked again. It was sad. So very sad. I noticed Sahara's initials are SSS. I should have made them SOS. That would have been cool… So stupid too… So many mistakes…. TTT-TTT Me and all my stupid writing glory.**

**ON YOUR MARKS! GET SET…. GO!!!!**

**---**

Sahara was slowly waking up; she was being shaken awake by Haru. Haru looked at her with concern. "Are you all right? You were crying in your sleep last night. You woke me up a few times. You eyes are all red and puffy."

"Gomen for waking you. I'm fine," Sahara said looking away.

Haru gave her another concerned look. "O.k. Pudding called us for breakfast."

"Hai." Sahara quickly crawled out of the futon and up and into the washing room. 'Maybe my clothes are clean…' Sahara pulled them out of the dryer. "Good. I need knew clothes," she said to no one in particular.

She changed and hurried into the kitchen. Pudding was doing tricks, throwing the food up in the air, and anyone who wanted it could grab it. "Fong Family Secret Trick! Tien Shin Luan Woo!" 5 kids, a monkey (A/N AH NINH NA NO DA!), Haru, and Sahara all moved their plates to catch some food. Haru, not being accustomed to all the commotion, missed the food with her plate, and Sahara stuck an extra one behind Haru to catch the food.

"Gomen," Haru said.

"Anytime," said Sahara.

'What's up with her? Not only is she acting strange, but her eyes are orange.'

"I'm going to drop off the kids at day care na no da! I'll meet you at work na no da," Pudding said.

"Hm?" Sahara looked up. Suddenly she smiled. "I can take them Pudding-chan. Would you like that guys?"

"YEAH! Sahara-onee-chan na no da!"

Pudding smiled back at Sahara. "O.k. na no da! Meet you there na no da!"

Sahara gathered all the kids and shooed them out the door. "See you then, Pudding-chan and Haru-nee-chan!" She shut the door behind her and Haru could here her talking to the kids, telling them to hurry or they would be late.

Haru sighed. "Did you notice Pudding-chan? Sahara's acting strange."

"Yeah na no da! I was up last night on the roof, and she came running in and she was all flustered na no da. She was crying softly in her futon too na no da…" Pudding looked worried.

Haru hated that look. "It'll be fine! Just a little phase, that's all."

Pudding smiled. "O.k. na no da! Let's go na no da!"

---

"BYE!" Sahara waved frantically after the kids, who were waving even more frantically back.

Their sensei watched and as Sahara began walking away, still waving, asked, "Who is that? Doesn't Pudding-chan usually drop you off?" (A/N You know that purple haired sensei in that one Pudding-based Lame joke I know episode? That's her.)

"Hai na no da," Heicha said. "She's Sahara-nee-chan na no da! She stays with us because she has nowhere else to go na no da. Same with Haru-nee-chan na no da. Sahara-nee-chan pays onee-chan so that they can stay with us na no da."

The sensei smiled. "Let's get to work everyone!"

---

Haru and Pudding both arrived at work, and Pudding changed. "Do think we should tell everyone before she arrives," asked Haru.

"Probably na no da."

Everyone stood inside the kitchen, as Ichigo and Ryou were fighting over Ichigo getting a raise. Zakuro sat on the counter looking bored, Lettuce was trying to stop the fight, and Mint was drinking her tea.

"Everyone. Sahara's been acting weird since this morning, maybe even since last night, so she might be spacey during work. Just let her be," Haru stated.

"Why's she acting weird," asked Ichigo.

Haru shrugged. "Who knows? She was crying in her sleep but that's all I know."

"Same here na no da."

"Well then, let her be then," said Ryou. "As long as she'll be working, I don't really care."

Haru shot him a deadly look, but she was restrained by a freaking out Lettuce.

"Off to work then," said Ryou, waving his hand.

"Self-coincided jerk," Haru muttered.

At that moment a dazed looking Sahara walked into the kitchen. "Ohayo minna." (A/N "Good morning everyone" in Japanese)

Lettuce smiled at her. "Ohayo, Sahara-san."

Sahara tried a smile back. "I'm going to go change." She walked to the back room.

Everyone in the room sighed. "It's true," said Mint.

"Yep. She's acting weird," answered Ichigo.

"I'm sure it's nothing," started Lettuce.

A minute later, a somewhat hyper Sahara popped back into the room. "Let's get started," she chirped cheerfully.

'O.k. Something's seriously up,' though everyone, sweatdropping.

---

With the normal sounds of the day, the day began to pass by. "Seriously. We need to get paid more for this. 3 people refused food because it was slightly BROWN. What's up with that," asked Sahara during the workers' lunch break.

"I know what you mean! Ryou never pays us enough," cried Ichigo.

They two of them began to chat about how the evil Ryou never paid them enough, how they should get raises. "I mean seriously! The customers can be so difficult," Sahara exclaimed.

Pudding was busy trying out a new trick she had seen on the street, Zakuro was reading the paper, Mint and Haru were sharing some tea, and Lettuce was cleaning up some glass.

Sahara left the room, saying something about picking up some sushi to bring back for lunch. "Look at this," said Zakuro. She laid down the newspaper to an article headed, "MAN ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO ATTACK YOUNG GIRL LAST NIGHT! BOY SAVED GIRL!"

The article continued, " Late last night a young girl was attacked by a drunken man on the way home from picking up groceries. As the man had his grip on the girl, a boy knocked out the man, leaving him to custody. A name for the boy and girl is unknown. The man is to be held in prison for an attempt of ……" and the article continued telling about the decrease in crime since the Mews had reappeared.

A look passed through the group of girls. "Do you think…." "Nah…" "It's possible…"

Sahara walked through the door carrying a plastic bag with 'Sushi Palace' printed on the side. "Why's everyone so quiet," she asked.

Zakuro held up the article. "Was that you?"

Sahara frowned. "You mean the girl?"

"Yes."

She smiled. "Yeah, it was me. Stupid drunken. He wouldn't let go."

Haru looked at her strangely. "But who saved you?"

"David."

"Who?"

Lettuce blinked and said, "Yeah, that guy who saved you in the café!"

"Yep. That was him."

Haru raised her eyebrow. "I still don't know who you're talking about. And that doesn't explain why you were so upset."

Sahara began, "Well, you probably don't know who he is then. You'll have to meet him. What upset me has nothing to do with the baka drunken; it has to do with David. But it doesn't matter." She waved her hand and pulled out the sushi trays and chopsticks. "Let's eat! Itadakimasu!" (A/N Itadakimasu is commonly said before meals it means, "I gratefully receive." If you are ever wondering the how on earth I know this all… Internet and watching A LOT of anime can easily help you learn these things.)

"Itadakimasu!"

---

After the café was reopened, work was back in full swing. The amount of customers had seemed to rise dramatically. And everywhere you turned it was talk of the Mews.

On a reentry to the kitchen Sahara sighed. "They're talking about the Mews everywhere. It's amazing."

"Yeah. They really seemed to like us even more then last time," commented Mint.

Zakuro shrugged. "Must be a fad or something."

"I hope it's a good thing," sighed Ichigo as she carried another order out of the kitchen.

Pudding was too busy entertaining the crowd in the café by blowing fire and the rest of her act. She cartwheeled and did amazing stunts for the awed crowd, and also for the rather pissed Sahara. She was diving back and forth trying to catch all the plates that were falling from high above her head. "PUDDING! STOP IT!" she screamed.

---

Sahara sighed and fell onto the counter, as well as smacking her head on the counter. Swearing she rubbed her head. The rest of the Mews, all promptly exhausted excluding Pudding, were dropping all over the café like flies. Haru propped herself on the counter that had caused Sahara so much pain, Mint was already sitting at a table with Zakuro, and the rest were leaning on cleaning tools. Lettuce mopped the floors, Ichigo had the tables, and Pudding was cleaning the chandelier (A/N Work with me here….).

Sahara groaned as she dropped to the floor. "So… Tired…."

Haru sighed, "Not surprising. Shirogane works us like horses."

Suddenly Sahara shot up. "What's he doing here?" she gasped out.

"Who now?"

"HIM," Sahara breathed.

There was a tinkle of the café door opening and they both could hear Lettuce talking to a male voice. Mint came walking into the kitchen. "There is someone here to see you, _Haruka._" Haru hissed.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! And who's here for me?"

A thud of shoes was coming closer and the door to the kitchen was pushed open. "Hello! What's up? Haru, someone said that you were working here so-" exclaimed a boy with red hair.

"HIKARU!" The cry of the redhead's name was heard from Sahara and Haru. Sahara latched herself onto Hikaru's middle. "Hikaru nii-chan!"

"WHAT!?" came the cry of all the girls. "NII-CHAN?!"

Hikaru stared down and Sahara and then up at Haru. "This is the most enthusiastic greeting I've ever gotten. More importantly, from people I don't know…"

Haru blinked and then turned scarlet. "Hikaru, what on earth are you doing here?"  
"To see you!"

Sahara glared up at Hikaru. "HOW DO YOU NOT REMEMBER ME!?" she steamed.

"How do you know him?" challenged Haru. "And why are you calling him 'nii-chan'?"

**Gomen. This is short. But I wanted this to be suspenseful, and this is where it seemed good to stop. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! Oh yeah, this was dedicated to everyone who has read this story! If you review I have a cookie or other leftover Halloween candy to give you! MORE HIKARU TO COME NEXT CHAPTER!!!!**


	18. Chapter 18

**It's me again! I have a request. Anyone, who had ANY ideas for what they could do to celebrate Sahara's (late) birthday, ANY IDEAS AT ALL, would you send them in to me? One way or another? It could be something with all the Mews, or just one character or anything. Going to an amusement park, the zoo, or a karaoke bar, whatever. It could be with David, Haru, Hikaru…. Whatever. I'm sorry that I have to bother you guys to ask for ideas, but I had an idea, but I think it's too cheesy and lame. I will take all ideas into consideration. If you could that would help me out SO much. I have the big things planned, but the smaller, in-between things are not planned very well. Thanks for your cooperation. **

**Onii-chan: Big brother in Japanese. Just to clear things up. It can also be used to say for younger kids to older males. Also used for big brother figures.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMM, Haru, Hikaru, Ghostbusters or Barbie. The latter 2 have nothing to do with anything, but I don't own them either do I? I DO own Sahara, David, Turn, and Tort.**

**--- Last Time ---**

"_How do you know him?" challenged Haru. "And why are you calling him 'nii-chan'?"_

---

"I know Hikaru-nii-chan because we were together a VERY long time ago. Why don't you remember, nii-chan?"

Hikaru stared down at the desperate girl clinging to him. "You seem familiar somehow… But I still don't know who you are."

Sahara glared back at him. She smashed her foot to the ground at let go of his waist. "MY NAME IS SOHMA SAHARA! I KNEW YOU AS A CHILD! AND IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER ME, THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!"

Everyone was rather taken back by her outburst, but then Hikaru said something that changed that.

"Spix…? Is that you?"

" DON'T CALL ME THAT! AND GODDAMMIT, YES! YOU'RE EVEN MORE FORGETFUL THEN I AM!"

Hikaru gave a start. He slowly reached out his hand and put it on Sahara's head. Then he quickly pulled her in and noogied her. "ARGH, SPIX! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! EVERYONE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Haru stared at the scene before her. "I still don't get it? How do you know each other?"

Sahara's muffled voice answered her question. "When I was little, my parents and Hikaru-nii-chan's parents knew and worked with each other. Because of that, Hikaru and I played together all the time. It must have been after my parents were… er…. disappeared… that who they worked for must have decided that my entire family was dead."

Hikaru stopped noogieing Sahara and softly asked her, "Sahara? What did happen do your parents?"

Sahara ignored Hikaru's question and turned to Haru. "Haru-nee-chan, how do you know Hikaru-nii-chan?"

Haru gave a small smile. "That is a pretty long story."

--- _Flashback _---

_Hikaru walked down the street with a group of his friends. They had just finished up a concert at a small café. They were passing a park when Hikaru heard a noise. More like a mess of noises. He could see on a bench there was a person, a girl, sobbing. He pointed her out to his friends. They shrugged it off, but Hikaru was bugged by it. "I'm going to ask her what's wrong. Go on with out me. I'll catch up." A few of them teased him about trying to be a womanizer, and Hikaru laughed with them. He waved his back at the group and began to quickly walk towards the figure. _

_The person was different from a regular person walking down the street. She had black hair with red highlights, ragged clothing which looked as if it had been sewn, and a beat-up looking rabbit next to her. She sat there bawling into her hands. He quietly set down his bag with his band things in it. The girl's head shot up. Her eyes widened and she scrambled to get up. Hikaru quickly grabbed her hand. "It's ok! It's ok," he assured her. The girl let out a sob and buried her face in his chest, and clung to his shirt. She was acting as if everything that had mattered to her had died. "Shh… It's ok."_

"_I'm sorry," the girl whispered. As she collapsed to the bench, Hikaru did the same. She buried her face into his chest further. Realizing what she was doing she began to pull away, but Hikaru held her firmly. _

"_It's fine," he said firmly. "Everything's ok."_

_At that the girl began to cry softly again. Hikaru started. "It's not, it's not though," the girl sobbed. "I've lost her! I've lost her! I can't find her! Anywhere! They probably found her and now I can't do anything!"_

"_Who?" asked Hikaru._

"_Sahara! Sohma Sahara? Have you seen her?" the girl quickly pulled away. She stood wobbly. She motioned with her hands. "She's about this size. She has kinda brown hair. She's wearing pretty ragged clothes. I have to find her!"_

_Hikaru stared at her. He was suddenly lost in memories. "Sahara… Sohma Sahara?" he asked softly. _

"_YES! Her! Do you know where she is? She has no family now. She lost them along time ago. She stands out in a crowd. Have you seen her?" she asked franticly. _

_Hikaru shook his head. "The Sahara I know is dead. She died 7 years ago. Along with her family."_

_The girl froze. "7 years? That's such a long time ago…"_

"_Yes. Yes it is."_

"_That's when I met Sahara."_

"_What?"_

"_That's when I first met Sahara. We met and we haven't been really separated for 7 years."_

"_That's the same time I lost her! You met her when I lost her…" Hikaru suddenly shot up. "How old was she?"_

_"4 years."_

_"That's how old she was when she died! How did you meet her? And where?"_

_The girl sighed and sat down. She turned to Hikaru fiercely. "Everything I am going to tell you must remain secret. Tell anyone and I'll hunt you down." She pulled her legs into a crossed position. "My name is Katsura Haruka. Don't call me Haruka, or you die. I am to be called Haru. My family disowned me when I was very young. I was sold to Area 61. That was when I was 4. 2 years later I met a young girl. She was crying when I first met her. Her name was Sohma Sahara and she was 4 years old."  
Hikaru sat down slowly as he listened to her story. _

_"We have been trapped, beaten, and tested on in the confinements of a place called Area 61. Its purpose is unknown to Sahara and I, but recently I helped Sahara escape._

_"Sahara came back for me and we both escaped together. Throughout the past few months we have dodged Area 61's agents and made our way slowly from the Sahara Desert to Tokyo, Japan. Recently, we were forced to split apart. I haven't seen Sahara since. By the sounds of it, the Sahara you knew, and the Sahara I know, are possibly the same people. The only way to confirm that is if we find her. Please help me find her."_

_The girl sat silently. After a moment Hikaru broke the silence. "I'll help you."_

_Haru's face brightened. She hugged him tightly. "Thank you! Thank you very, very much!"_

---

Sahara sat silently on the counter. "I see. So that's how you met."

"Where did you go to past few weeks? I haven't seen you," Haru said to Hikaru.

"Eh? I thought I told you. I had to go away for a few weeks to play with the guys. Some people paid us well to play for them."

"Hmm," was all Haru said.

Sahara stood up. "I need to ask Ryou-nii-chan something." She quickly walked into the main café area where Ryou stood. "Ryou-nii," Sahara began. "I need to ask you something very important.

"Yes?"

"I need to tell Hikaru-" With a slam, the basement door flung open.

"Girls! In the basement! Now!" called Keiichiro, who had been working in the basement.

Ryou briskly walked through the kitchen. He turned sharply to face Hikaru. "Stay here," he commanded.

All the Mews, followed by Haru, filed down the stairs into the basement. Once in line they stood awaiting commands.

Keiichiro stood in front, with Ryou next to him. "The aliens have appeared again. It actually appears that there are more chimera anima and only 1 or 2 aliens. You might have to split into groups to get rid of the chimera before the cause any serious damage. If possible you might even have to split into 1-person groups. Be careful, and Haru please stay here. It would be bad if you were recognized. We don't have anything ready for you yet. And Sahara."

Sahara stood up straighter.

"This is going to be your big debut. Make the best of it!" Keiichiro smiled.

Sahara smiled back. "Yes, sir!"

Ryou looked at them sternly. "Tokyo Mew Mew! Away!"

---

With a flash of multicolored light, the Mew team was ready to go. They all ran quickly to the stairs. "Wait!" came the cry from Lettuce. The group froze. "Isn't Hikaru-san still up there?"

Sahara quickly said something to Haru. Haru said quickly, "I'll go up and take him somewhere else. Then you can get out of here without being seen."

The group nodded and Haru raced up the stairs. Hikaru blinked as Haru grabbed him by the arm. "Come on! We're going somewhere!"

"Wha-" Hikaru started, but was cut off as he was dragged forcefully away from the café. Haru stopped a safe distance from the café. Hikaru gasped out, "What about Spix?"

"She's doing something important."

A blast of air reached them as 6 girls in bright colored uniforms passed them. "It's the Mew Mews!" Hikaru cried.

"Really?" Haru asked, trying to hide her smile.

"Yeah! They're pretty famous around here! They beat off some aliens about a year ago. If they're around something must be up. But wait," he stopped. "There are only 5 of them. Why is there a 6th?"

Haru grabbed his arm again. "We can go watch the news on that big screen! Let's go!" Hikaru was pulled along again. He had a feeling that his arm was going to hurt a lot tomorrow.

---

"TURN!" a yell sounded. The large eared, flying alien turned around. "BE READY TO GET YOUR ALIEN CAN KICKED!"

Turn flinched and quickly teleported away. Mint blinked along with the rest of the Mews. "What's up with that? He'd usually stay and fight."

"Must be something up with the aliens," Zakuro stated simply. "Let's go!"

"There are 3 chimera, or at least that much," Keiichiro informed them from their pendants. "You can split into groups of 2. "

"Right," everyone chorused. The groups of 2: Ichigo and Lettuce; Mint and Zakuro; and Pudding and Sahara. Pudding glanced up. "LOOK NA NO DA! A HELICOPTER NA NO DA! NO, 2 NA NO DA! WAIT NA NO DA! 3 NA NO DA!"

Lettuce looked up nervously. "I hope it's the news, not anything else."

"Come on! SPLIT!" Ichigo yelled.

The 3 groups flew apart into 3 different directions. Sahara glanced up again as Pudding and she flew off of buildings, scaring passersby. 'The helicopters are going to split just like us and follow each group. That makes sense. But I wonder why none of the aliens were here?'

--- The aliens ship ---

"Come on! You can thaw faster then that!" yelled Turn at Tort and Kish.

"Why do we have to thaw Tart out? He'll thaw faster then this!"

Tort just smacked Kish outside the head. "Just follow his orders," she muttered to him.

"Pie's not doing anything!"

"He's doing research. Plus I doubt he'd help us anyway."

"KEEP WORKING!" barked Turn.

Tort and Kish sighed, turning back to the half thawed Tart. They both held up their weapons threateningly. But we all know hair dryers aren't that threatening.

---

"ALL RIGHT CHIMERA! YOUR GOING DOWN! RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!

"RIBBON PUDDING RING INFERNO!"

The two attacks flung themselves at the frog chimera, how croaked loudly as they hit it in the side.

The helicopter floated overhead. Sahara could hear from on the ground the excited yells of the newscaster to the camera, commenting something about a new Mew.

Sahara grinned. This was the most fun she had had in a long time. She jumped into the air and did a back flip to the side. "MEW PUDDING! GO TO THE OTHER SIDE AND ATTACK WHEN I DO! IT SHOULD TURN THE CHIMERA BACK TO NORMAL!"

"Ok na no da!" came Pudding's cry.

---

Haru held onto Hikaru's arm and stared up at the screen. Ichigo and Lettuce were heading off against a giant beetle of sorts; Mint and Zakuro were covering a big chicken type thing; and Sahara and Pudding had a chimera frog. Every team was winning. But that wasn't what the big news was. Apparently as soon as the public had a glimpse of Mew Sahara, they were in an uproar. Talk of Mew Sahara surrounded her. On the left she could hear a little boy asking his mom if the new Mew meant new Tokyo Mew Mew toys at the toy stores. On her right she could hear a few guys talking about how cool the new snake (if that was what she really was, which was the topic in front of her) Mew was. One of them was saying how hot she was. Haru giggled, keeping that in mind to tell Sahara.

She looked up at Hikaru, who was glaring intensely at the screen. He too, appeared to be infatuated with Mew Sahara. Haru smiled. Sahara was going to love this.

---

And she was. Sahara was having the time of her life. After the chimera was defeated, photographers and newscasters had surrounded her and Pudding. People were asking her name, where she was from, everything. She found it overwhelming. Pudding was clinging to her arm for dear life. If she let go, she would be swept into the crowd. Sahara opened her mouth. "My name is Mew Sahara! I am a new member of the Tokyo Mew Mew team. I am part snake. I will not answer anymore questions until further notice."

She grabbed Pudding and jumped into the air. She quickly bounced from ledge to ledge, with Pudding never far behind.

---

She walked into the café with Pudding, both changed back to normal. She was happy. Very happy. The rest of the Mews sat at some tables looking exhausted. Haru and Hikaru still weren't back. She smiled. Haru could spend as much time with Hikaru. Sahara had a suspicion that Haru liked Hikaru. She knew for sure Hikaru like Haru back. That or it was how he acted to everyone. She couldn't tell.

Keiichiro smiled when he saw her. "Would you like some tea?" he asked Pudding and Sahara. They both nodded. It was just what they needed. They sat down with the rest of the exhausted Mews.

"They send out so many Chimera," groaned Ichigo.

"They've sent more," Mint reminded her.

As the rest of the group conversed, Sahara sat there thinking and drinking. She quietly but quickly stood up and began to walk toward the basement. She still had things to discuss with Ryou.

---

Ryou sat rubbing his head tiredly. All these chimera and aliens. And so many possible places for Mew Aqua. The worst thing, is wondering if all the possible places actually held Mew Aqua or a fake. That was the biggest problem. The girls had done a pretty good job today. But the fight was going to get more and more severe, much as it had last time. Ryou didn't want it to go to far. He still had to protect them, and letting it get to far could mean much danger for the girls. He wouldn't let that happen. As he sat rubbing his head, a voice shattered his thoughts, making him fall out of his chair.

"Ryou-nii, we need to talk. Now." As soon as Sahara had spoken the words Ryou had jumped from his chair to the floor.

"Don't creep up on me like that!" he said angrily.

Sahara shrugged. "Gomen. But we do."

Ryou sighed. "What? What do you need to talk about?"

"I need to tell Hikaru who I really am. Tell him about the project. Tell him everything. He's going to be asking questions that I won't be able to answer. He already asked about my parents, and I can't say anything without giving this project away. Please. Please let me tell him. I'll swear him to secrecy. If he tells anyone, I'll blast him to Canada. So, can I?"

Ryou just looked at her. He finally spoke. "If he tells anyone, I'll have his memory erased. Do you have that in mind? If he tells anyone, it could endanger all of the Mews. You can tell him, but keep it a secret."

Sahara nodded. "Yes. I'll make sure he doesn't say anything." She turned her back and Ryou turned back to the computer screen. He jumped again, as he felt someone hug him. The feeling was brief, but he found a cup of coffee in front of him. He heard the clump of feet running up the stairs. He gave a small chuckle and began to work again.

---

**This came out pretty well. Thanks so much for all the support I've gotten from people. Seriously if anyone has ideas, please send them in. The ideas are going to be a crucial part of the next chapter. I'm using such big words…. Well I hope you enjoyed the 18th chapter of Running Forever. My foot is numb. It hurts. Even though it's numb. I have to go get some blood circulating in my foot. IDEAS ARE WELCOME AND NEEDED! ARIGATO! If you want, review! I have candy canes. Still can't feel my foot. Ja ne 'till next time! Sorry for possible errors. **

**P.S. This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written. Sweet.**


	19. Chapter 19

**It seems like forever since I have written. I'm sure that it seems like that to everyone. I'm dedicating this chapter to Silver Artic Wolf, who has helped get ideas that were much needed for this chapter. Thank you so much for all the support I've gotten. I'm sorry but my life/schedule have gotten seriously packed and screwed up, so I'm happy that I have time to be writing this. I'm happy. **

**This is probably going to be part angst in a few parts through out this chapter. Sorry if you don't like it. I'll try and keep it happy though:D**

**Holy… I looked at the stats for this story… Wow. Here we go: 86 reviews, 2487 hits, 1 c2 (thank you x-Panicalysis-x), 10 favorites, and 15 alerts. Never have I been so proud…**

**Legal Crap: Why should I bother? I don't own anything. Except my characters. Who you should know by now.**

---

The sound of shoes slapping on pavement caused Sahara's head to snap up. She was sitting on the balcony on the upper floor of the café. She looked down to see Haru and Hikaru come towards the café. Haru was running and laughing, and Hikaru was chasing her and laughing as well. He accelerated and grabbed Haru around the waist and drew her close to him, as Haru giggled like a giddy 5 year-old. Sahara smiled. Haru deserved someone who could make her happy.

Hikaru closed the gap between Haru and himself, and Sahara looked away, color coming to her cheeks. Her two best friends were kissing. This was one for the books. She turned back and saw Haru returning the kiss full power. Sahara closed her eyes. It was easier then looking away.

She slowly opened one eye and then the other. Hikaru was talking to Haru and Haru was listening closely. Sahara cocked an eyebrow as she saw Haru shake her head violently. Even though Sahara strained her ears she could here anything. Hikaru nodded and the couple began to walk toward the café. Sahara quickly jumped down onto the balcony and began to hurry down the stairs. It would be best if she were down there when they came in.

---

Haru looked around the kitchen to see no one there. She called down into the basement. "Hello? Where is everyone?"

Hikaru glanced around and looked back into the main serving area. He hadn't seen anyone either.

Suddenly a slightly out of breath Sahara appeared. "Sorry, I was upstairs. Ryou and Keiichiro are either working or out doing something, and everyone else left."

Hikaru looked at her. "We aren't that late are we?"

Sahara shook her head. "Nope!" She smiled. "Haru-nee-chan, we should get going home. Pudding is probably being attacked and overwhelmed by her siblings now."

"'K. Come on. Hikaru-kun, you can come too!"

Hikaru grinned. "All right. It would be best to see you two to your home. But…" he trailed off, "Spix-chan, I'm not sure where you and Puffin live."

Haru turned a light red at the mention of a nickname for herself.

Sahara frowned her nickname and then chuckled. "I can show you!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him forward. "Let's go!"

---

Sahara laughed openly. Hikaru was behind her chasing her down the street with Haru not far behind. "You can't catch me!" she shrieked with delight.

Hikaru growled and began to run faster to try and catch her, but Sahara sped up even more. She ground her feet into the pavement as best as she could, and bolted down the street and disappeared. Hikaru slowed down and sighed. "I can never catch her, even when we were little," he complained loudly to Haru.

"Baka, you can't catch her. There are very few people who can," Haru laughed. (A/N Baka means idiot in Japanese.)

"I know, I know Puffin," he purred and turned and pulled Haru into a bear hug. Haru gave a little squeak of surprise, and then relaxed in his arms. Hikaru grinned at buried his face in her hair.

"Hikaru!" Haru giggled. "Not now! We need to follow Sahara-chan!"

Hikaru put on a sad face but let her go. "Aw, you're no fun, Puffin."

Haru stuck her tongue out at him and began to race down the street to a waving Sahara. Hikaru grinned and put on a chase. He swooped her up and carried Haru bridal style all the way down to Sahara who was grinning a grin similar to the Cheshire Cat. "Tsk, tsk. No making out on the streets you two." Haru turned a dark shade of red and Hikaru just smiled widely. He carefully put Haru down who quietly thanked him and began to follow Sahara as she started to jog again.

---

As the reached the entrance to Pudding's house, Hikaru kissed Haru who turned yet another shade darker. "'Bye Puffin-chan!" he said happily. Haru waved and quickly opened the door and slipped into the house teeming with life.

"Ne, Hikaru-nii, can we talk?" Sahara said quietly.

Hikaru turned and blinked at her. "Of course, Spix-chan."

Sahara let out a low growl but turned and started to pull Hikaru away from the door. "Let's take a walk around the block and then we can come back here," she stated.

"'K!"

The both began to walk side by side for a half minute until Hikaru broke the silence. "Are you ok?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

Silence. "Hikaru-nii?"

"Eh?"

"How have you been? I haven't seen you since I was 4… So you play the drums, right?"

"Yeah. I'm in a band with a few friends of mine."

Silence again. "Spix-chan?"

"…Yes?"

The next question came quietly. "Where are your parents?"

Sahara froze in mid-step. She quickly shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Not now. Later."

"Haru-chan wouldn't tell me."

"Hmm…" Sahara suddenly bounded ahead putting on a happy face. "So Hikaru-nii! How has your family been? I haven't seen your nee-chan or your papa and momma in such a long time. I wish I could see them again!"

The sound of footsteps was all that could be heard until Hikaru said monotonously, "You won't hopefully be able to see them for a while, Spix-chan."

"Wha-? Why?"

"I lost them."

"You mean…!"

A few seconds past. "Yes. There was an explosion, and then a large fire. I was the only one who got out alive."

Sahara eyes widened as she slowed down, and then stopped. Hikaru came to a stop besides her. "What?" he asked.

Sahara turned to him and gripped him tightly, startling Hikaru. "I'm sorry. I didn't know," she whispered solemly.

Hikaru gave Sahara a squeeze back. "You wouldn't have known."

---

Sahara slowly opened the door, trying not to make a sound. She took a step forward and a floorboard creaked beneath her. "AH!" A pile of kids came rushing at her.

Sahara blew her bangs out of her face. She was at the bottom of a mound of extremely happy kids. "Sahara-nee is here na no da!" they all cried. She laughed and twisted and made her way out of the pile. She sighed as she got out. She limped into the kitchen, a kid on each leg.

"Sahara-chan!" Haru chirped happily.

"Hey," Sahara waved her arm slightly. She blinked quickly and found a plate of food in front of her.

"I made some food," Haru said smiling.

Pudding was on the floor wrestling in the next room, but once the kids had attached themselves to Sahara she had gotten free. "She's really happy na no da. She' s been like this since she's gotten home na no da. I think she is in love na no da!" Pudding whispered.

"Wouldn't be very surprising," Sahara muttered back.

Pudding responded in smiling. "WHO WANTS TO WRESTLE NA NO DA?!" she yelled loudly. The kids cheered loudly in response. The kids ran in a formation straight at Pudding, who let out a yelp of surprise and began to sprint toward the living room. Moments later, Sahara could hear smashing and laughing. She chuckled to herself and grabbed some chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!"

---

"Gochisosama," Sahara said stretching her back. "That was good," she directed at Haru.

"Arigato!" Haru hummed happily, sweeping the dishes out from under Sahara's nose and plopping them into the sink.

Sahara yawned widely and questioned Haru again. "What did Hikaru-nii ask you in front of the café?"

"He asked me about your parents."

"…What did you tell him?"

"Nothing."

"Domo arigato."

"No problemo!"

Sahara slipped off the chair. "I'm going to help the kids get ready for bed. Then I'm going to bed."

"Ok. And… Are you ok?"

"…Yes."

---

Haru opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling with murderous intent. She was tired. She didn't want to wake up. She didn't want to go to work. She wanted to sleep. ALL SHE WANTED WAS SOME FREAKIN' SLEEP! But, she wouldn't get any. Why should she?

Haru pushed herself so she could look around the room. She looked over at Sahara's futon to see that she wasn't there. _Where is she?_ Then she looked at the clock. 2:00 AM. The clock's red numbers glared into Haru's face. Dammit, she hated that clock. But where was Sahara? She should be here.

Haru stood up carefully and made her way to the kitchen, but as she did so she heard a noise coming from above; the roof. She quickly headed toward the side door and slid it open gently and glanced up. She could see a pair of feet hanging over the edge. Sahara. Haru shut the door. She needed some sleep. Sahara needed some alone time anyway.

---

Haru opened her eyes again. She didn't want to get up. She rolled over to look at the clock. 10:00 AM. Good. It wasn't 2. She had gotten eight hours of sleep and was feeling happy again. She stood up, only to be knocked down by a heavy object. "Oww," Haru groaned.

"PLAY! PLAY NA NO DA!" screamed Heicha.

"Go to school."

Heicha stuck out her lip. "Sahara-nee left for work. She didn't take me. Pudding-nee is in the kitchen. She's going to leave. You take me!"

"Fine. Just let me get dressed," Haru moaned tiredly.

She quickly pulled on some clothes and ran into the kitchen. "I'll take the kids to school!" she cried, as Pudding opened the door.

"Fine with me na no da!"

---

Haru waved goodbye to the kids and began to walk quickly toward the café. Hopefully she wouldn't be too late. As she began to sprint, a hand reached out and grabbed her. "EK!"

"Ohayo Puffin!"

"Hikaru?!"

Hikaru grinned. He held out his hand. "Look where you, me, Sahara, and that guy friend of hers are going!"

---

Sahara scrambled to grab the tray that Lettuce had dropped. She slid and grabbed it and quickly put it onto the customer's table. "Thank you for waiting," she said grinning.

"A-arigato, Sahara-chan."

"It's fine Lettuce."

She heard a 'ding' of the bell summoning her to the kitchen. She dodged a rolling Pudding and some customers to get to the kitchen. "Table 5, Sahara-san, please!" yelled Keiichiro above the din.

"Right!" she called back.

As she turned to grab the order of crepes, Haru grabbed her shoulder. "Lookie!" she cried triumphantly. "Hikaru gave us tickets to the zoo! He even found your friend David and invited him!"

"WHAT?!"

"Isn't it great!"

"Oh man… Where did he find David?"

"Knows him from school or something like that."

"The zoo?"

"Yep we're going tonight."

"Whatever." Sahara grabbed the tray and scurried out of the kitchen as fast as she could with out dropping the food.

---

"I still can't believe that they gave me this. And I also can't believe what an idiot Hikaru-nii is."

"Aw, he isn't that bad. And you're lucky. Now we can share that cell phone whenever!"

Sahara fingered the cell phone in her hand carefully. The Mews had all chipped in and had given it to her after work as a late birthday present. Haru had even given her some new clothes that she had gone out and bought. Sahara had been surprised. She was certain that Haru would have sewn some clothes, but she was informed that Haru didn't have a sewing machine or needles to work with.

So there she stood with a knee length jean skirt and a light brown tee shirt. If there was one thing that Sahara couldn't stand it was dresses and skirts. But in a recent turn of events- i.e. turning into a Mew- her thoughts had changed.

"Besides, he said he wanted to treat us."

"He shouldn't have invited David-kun."

"It'll be good for you."

Sahara just sighed. She leaned back on the door to the café. Why had of all people he had invited David? She would rather he had invited one of aliens. But Hikaru didn't know the existed, so then that had been out of the question.

"Hey Spix-chan!"

Sahara hissed loudly and stood up straight to see Hikaru and David walking towards them. At the sight of David she blushed slightly but then inverted her gaze.

"Let's go! We want to get there before large crowds do!" Hikaru chirped.

Haru walked quickly up to stand with Hikaru, and David slowed his pace to walk with Sahara.

"Are you going to tell me how I got in this?" David asked jokingly.

Sahara groaned. "My birthday was a while ago and I was er, occupied that day so I wasn't able to see anyone. Hikaru probably feels sorry and is taking us as a present to me or something."

"Your birthday?"

"Yeah. Sorry you got dragged into this."

"I think seeing you like this is a repayment for being forced to go to the zoo."

Sahara blushed again and David laughed.

"Hey look! There it is!" David pointed and Sahara could see a tall sign welcoming visitors to the Tokyo Zoo. "Come on!" David grabbed Sahara's hand and pulled her forward as they ran toward the zoo entrance.

---

Sahara looked wide-eyed around the zoo. It was amazing! She had never seen something so large and full of animals, and it spell bounded her.

"Let's look at the map to see what we want to see," Hikaru suggested.

Sahara scanned the map and she noticed something of her interest. "Look! A reptile house! Let's go there!"

"Fine with me," David said, shrugging. As soon as the words had left his lips Sahara was off like she had a cheetah on her heels. As turned and ran backwards.

"COME ON!" She bellowed.

"We should probably follow her," Haru said, starting to run after her. David and Hikaru gave each other a look and then began to run after the two girls.

---

"YEAH! Snakes!" Sahara cheered as she stood happily outside of the Reptile House.

Haru stood next to her, looking at the boys who came up behind them gasping and panting.

"You run so fast," David moaned to Sahara.

Sahara just giggled. "In! Let's go in!" she urged pulling David towards the door.

"Alright, alright."

Haru smiled at the sight of the two younger kids. "They are so funny to watch," she said.

"You could say that again," Hikaru agreed as they followed the pair into the exhibit.

---

"Wow," Sahara breathed. "So many snakes…"

"Yeah. This is the most I've ever seen too," David whispered.

Sahara made her way to a showcase with a Burmese Python. She looked at the nameplate. _So its' name is Daija, _Sahara thought. With another look at the plate she read that the Burmese Python was in danger of becoming extinct. She frowned at the information as David stood next to her.

"Yeah, it sucks doesn't it? All these animals might die out."

Sahara nodded slowly as she moved to the next showcase. The glass case housed a New Mexico Ridgenose Rattlesnake. She let out a small gasp as she recognized the name. _That snake is the same type that I share DNA with!_ She glanced at the nameplate that once again told of the snake's kind slowly losing its numbers. The plate also told her the snake's name, Davi. She opened her mouth and sighed openly. "You must be lonely in there aren't you? You and Daija both."

"Not really," replied a voice.

Sahara let out a squeak and almost fell over. "Who said that?" she demanded.

"The animal that you directed the question at, human."

"Seriously?" she asked leaning toward the glass.

"Yes. It is I, Davi," hissed the snake.

"Well this is a new thing. I can talk to snakes. Wonderful."

"You are not like other humans are you, girl?"

Sahara waved her hand. "Of course not. I wouldn't be normal if I had snake DNA injected in me, would I?"

Davi cocked his head (or as much as Sahara could tell). "You have snake DNA in you, girl?"

"Yes I do. And my name is not 'girl' it's Sahara."

"I see."

"I bet people are going to think I'm insane talking to a snake," Sahara said.

"Well, I'm beginning to think you are," came a new voice from behind her. Sahara jumped.

"David-kun?"

"Why are you talking to a snake?"

"Well… Because he looked lonely." _That is the worst cover-up I've ever heard!_ complained a small voice in the back of her head.

"Is this your mate, human?" came Davi's voice.

Sahara glared at Davi out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him. "No he's not!"

"Fine," came Davi's answer.

"Who's not what?" asked David.

"N-nothing!" Sahara mentally cursed the small snake.

"Ok. Come on, we're going somewhere else now," David said over his shoulder.

Sahara turned to the snake again. "You really make things difficult don't you? I'm going now. Maybe I'll see you later."

"I'm here to make things difficult. I'll see you later I guess then. Goodbye, human."

"Stop calling me that!" A few people turned at looked at Sahara strangely. Sahara smiled sheepishly and quickly ran for the doors.

---

"There you are. We're going to look at polar animals now," Haru stated upon Sahara's arrival.

"That's fine with-" Sahara never got to finish her sentence. A large explosion was heard and a puff of smoke was seen drifting toward the sky. "Holy shit! What was that?"

Another explosion rocked the earth and Haru tumbled forward and was grabbed by Hikaru. A large shadow loomed over the group as an elephant Chimera stood over them, trumpeting loudly.

Sahara's eyes grew and David stood protectively in front of her. "Run!" he commanded and Sahara ran to Haru.

"Get them out of here. I need to take care of this. There are probably a bunch more of Chimera. Call the café and tell them what is going on," Sahara whispered urgently. She shoved Haru forward. "Now GO!"

She ran over to David and yanked him out of the way of the Chimera's path. "Come one," she told him quickly. "Follow Haru-nee! GO!" David nodded and ran toward Haru and Hikaru. Sahara followed and dodged the shots the Chimera was firing. A long stream of screaming people was heading toward the exit and Haru, Hikaru and David got swept up. Hopefully they wouldn't notice that Sahara was gone until she was able to finish up this job.

"I guess it's kick ass time," Sahara said to herself. She slipped behind a building and pulled her pendant from her pocket.

"MEW MEW SAHARA! METAMORPHISIS!"

She looked down at her outfit and pumped her arms. "Here I go!"

She charged out and stared at the chaos around her. There were tons of Chimera everywhere and people in panic running around. "It's going to be such a long day," she groaned and ran toward the elephant Chimera. "Ribbon Sahara SHAKE!" A brown blast flew at the Chimera who turned back into an elephant. She jumped onto it and kicked it lightly. "Go to your cage! Get!"

She jumped off the elephant, which was heading toward the elephant area, and landed in front of a group of young kids. "It's not safe here. You should go toward the front entrance."

The kids nodded and screamed as a flash of light smacked the ground near them. Sahara gathered them into her arms and jumped out of the way. She bounced off of object and set them down at the front. "Stay here, and go find an adult. Try to find your parents ok?" The kids nodded again and ran off.

Sahara flinched as another explosion was heard. "Damn Chimera," she muttered and bounded toward the sound.

---

Haru scrambled to keep her balance in the large group of people. She was hoping that Sahara was going to be able to keep this under control long enough that the other Mews could get there. "Hikaru-kun? David-kun? Are you still here?"

David's head surfaced and he headed toward Haru. Hikaru poked Haru's shoulder as he stood next to her. "Good. Everyone is here," she breathed.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Where is Sahara-chan?"

David looked around. "I don't see her… I hope she didn't get left behind."

"I'm going back," Hikaru said and quickly broke from the small group and out of the line of people.

"HIKARU-KUN! HIKARU!" Haru tried to yell over the din.

David frowned. This wasn't a good sign.

---

"Where are all these Chimera coming from? God. I mean, yeah, I'm in a freakin' zoo, and there are all these animals, but still. DAMN YOU TURN! YOU CAN'T TURN THEM ALL INTO ANIMAS!"

Sahara flung 5 attacks in different directions, destroying a monkey, leopard, hippo, lizard and bird Chimeras.

She had destroyed most Chimera Animas by now, but there were still a large portion left in the other half of the zoo. She also had to get all the people to evacuate safely, which so far had been a success. As she ran toward the next part of the zoo she looked toward the sky. It was going to be dark within a half hour, and by that time she wanted all the Chimera Animas to be gone. Then she could worry about David, Haru, and Hikaru.

How she was going to be able to explain this to David and Hikaru, she didn't know. Maybe she could pretend that that elephant Chimera from before knocked her out. Or maybe she fell and got knocked out. All the things that she could think of were lame excuses. What was she going to do?

WHACK! Sahara found herself on the ground, butt aching. What had she run into? She opened her eyes and saw Hikaru staring at her wide-eyed.

"Sahara?"

---

Sahara froze. _What should I do? What should I do?_ She shook her head clear and let her brain take over.

"Yes, I'm Mew Sahara. Who is this Sahara? Is she still in the zoo? I could help you look, but it would be best if you evacuated the premises immediately sir."

"I guess I should have figured it out. You look the same pretty much… You can cut the act, I've figured it out Sahara."

"Who is Sahara?"

"You know who she is."

"Sir, please leave the area. It is unsafe."

"Which is why you shouldn't be here."

"I, sir, and trained in getting rid of these Chimera Anima and you are not. So if you want to survive I advise you get out of here!"

"Cut the act already!"

"WHY SHOULD I? I NEED TO SAVE THE ZOO SO LET ME DO MY JOB PLEASE SIR!"

Hikaru froze this time. He took a deep breath. "I don't care if you want to save the zoo. I don't care if you want to be a Mew. All I care about is that you are safe. If you want to say that you aren't Sahara, go ahead. I just want you to be careful."

Sahara rubbed her arms to try and stop the shaking. "I'm Sahara, Hikaru-nii. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I guess now would be a good time to explain everything," she said in a small voice.

With a start she found a pair of arms squeezing her tightly. "I'm sorry. I want you to be careful."

Sahara found that her eyes were tearing up and bit her lip to stop the tears from overflowing. "I know. I need to tell you everything."

---

David stared worriedly up at the television screen as the group of people from the zoo watched a reporter broadcast from the zoo.

Haru could tell from his face that he was very worried, and she had a feeling that she had the same mask on too. She pulled out the cell phone and walked away from David so he wouldn't here the call.

"Moshi, moshi," Ryou's voice said at the end of the line.

"Shirogane-san, can you send the Mews down here right now?"

"I know. I've already called them all. They should be down soon enough."

"I'm really worried. I don't think Sahara-chan can handle it on her own."

"Have more faith in her, Haruka-san. She can do it; she has a very lot of power. She has a least, if not more, as much power as Ichigo."

"Thank you, Shirogane-san."

"They'll be there soon."

"Thank you. Bye."

Haru closed the phone and made a mental note to kill Ryou for calling her Haruka later. She glanced at David, who was still looking at the screen. _Be careful Sahara. You too Hikaru._

---

Ikadakimasu and Gochisosama: Ikadakimasu roughly translates to " I gratefully receive." It is said before eating. Gochisosama roughly means "Thank you for the meal," and is said after eating.

**Yeah! It is finally over! The chapter that is. I actually planned to make this longer, but then it would take SO LONG to write. This is I think the longest chapter I have ever written. It's pretty awesome. I really like this and I think I did a good job. I have a preview for the next chapter. It's going to be kind of angst too.**

---Chapter 20---

"It hurts… It hurts. It hurts," Sahara whispered.

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry," David said gently, holding more carefully.

Sahara shook her head 'no' carefully. "It hurts," she said tearfully. "It hurts so much, David-kun!"

"What hurts?" David was becoming more and more worried with every word she said.

Sahara closed her hand in a fist, and David put his hand onto of hers. He fisted his hand over hers. She slowly lifted the fist and put it on her chest.

"My heart."


	20. Chapter 20

**Well at the very moment I am typing, I just posted chapter 19. (3/4/07 Ok… Never mind. 3/17/06 Shit. I need to get working…) So I'm just going to thank everyone who reads this story. And if there are any other thank yous or dedications, I'll put them in later. **

**This chapter is going to be angst again! It will hopefully be more angst then the last chapter, which was not angst at all. YEAH ANGST! How is it going to get fluffy between Sahara and David if I don't add angst? I could just make it fluffy with having angst though… XP Oh well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMM, Hikaru, Haru and a very lot of other things. I do own Sahara, David, Turn, and Tort. Sweet.**

**Guess who is saying the beginning! If you guess right, I'll give lots o' chocolate. That and I'll mention your name next chapter. It doesn't matter if you feel like saying something…**

**---**

_Why? Why? Why are we forced to keep things bottled inside? Why must we keep our emotions stuffed inside of us, like soda in a bottle? If you keep it inside too long, or if you are rattled too much, if opened just even a little, it will explode. Why do people die? Why can we do nothing about it? We, humans, are so powerless in so many ways. Why? Why? Why?_

---

"Well… There is really no specific spot to start is there? You can start anywhere and everything we be revealed. It doesn't matter. Choose any point in my life and I can tell you. But for now, I will choose where the story begins."

Sahara flung an attack at a large stork Chimera, who let out a squawk of pain, and turned back into a normal stork.

Hikaru stood nearby, glaring at any Chimera that dared to come near Sahara. He did not like the fact that Sahara was being put in danger, but he would not do anything to stop her. It was her life. She would make her own decisions.

"Ok… Let's see. As you should know, Haru told you right?"

Hikaru nodded and stepped out of the way of an attack from a new Chimera Anima.

"So after we escaped from Area 61 and ended up here, we got spilt up when the men attacked us. We were unprepared, and we both went in separate directions hoping to confuse them. As I ran in a different direction, I ended up falling down a flight of stairs and ended up in the hands of the Mews. The first time that I came to I ran away. An accident occurred and I was injected with the DNA of a New Mexico Ridgenose Rattlesnake. After a long war that was mainly me trying to figure out if I could trust them, I came to find that I could trust them.

"Not long after I became friends with them, I met up with Haru again. She learned of my secret, and grudgingly accepted it. On my birthday I went with the Mews when a group of extraterrestrials attacked. I was on the sidelines watching, and ended up being kidnapped by the aliens. As I was being held hostage I learned something that I never thought was possible.

"My parents had been murdered by a Chimera Anima."

Sahara let out a cry as an attack grazed her shoulder. "RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!" The Chimera (a fish) flipped and avoided the attack. She screamed out her attack again and successfully hit her target. She grabbed her shoulder, which was bleeding. As she brought her hand away, it was covered in blood. She hissed annoyed.

"Hikaru-nii, get behind me, and stay close."

Hikaru nodded his head in agreement and slid closer to Sahara. Another Chimera surfaced. "WHERE ARE THEY ALL COMING FROM?" Sahara screamed in fury.

She turned to Hikaru to say something but was hit in the back by a (snake?) Chimera's attack. She let out a cry of pain and fell to her knees. Hikaru rushed forward and picked Sahara up. He grabbed her and retreated to the nearest building.

He set her down against a wall and she let out a small moan of pain. Sahara gritted her teeth and stood shakily. Hikaru grabbed her shoulder and she winced. He quickly withdrew his hand. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Sahara muttered.

Hikaru looked at her back in concern. "You shouldn't go out there again."

"I don't have a choice. I need to get all the Animas gone. Then my job for today will be done."

"I don't want you getting hurt."

"I… I just need to do my job. I need to do this Hikaru-nii. It's not just for my sake. It's for everyone. I can't just abandon the world! It needs to be saved! A superhero just doesn't sit around and let the bad guys take over the world do they?"

"…Be careful."

"If you come out, I'll explain more of my story."

---

David turned. "I'm going back."

"No. Stay here. It's dangerous there," Haru commanded.

"Which is why Sahara-chan and Hikaru-san shouldn't be there!"

"We can leave it to the Mews and the authorities."

David sighed. "If they'll just hurry up!"

---

"Where is she? I mean, we have looked all over this side of the zoo," complained Ichigo.

"Come one Ichigo-onee-chan na no da! We have to get all the animals in their cages na no da!"

"…Shouldn't we be fighting the Chimeras?" asked Zakuro.

"We are in charge of getting all the animals rounded up and back where they belong. There are no Chimeras over here to fight anyway," Lettuce said.

"Zakuro-onee-sama! Come help me with this wolf! He won't listen to me!" yelled Mint.

"Why?" groaned Ichigo. "I want to be fighting!"

Keiichiro's voice crackled over the speaker in their pendants. "There is a signal of a Mew on the other side of the park. Please go check it out, Lettuce and Pudding!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now I'm stuck here?" Ichigo wailed.

"Why does Ichigo have to be here?" groaned Mint.

Zakuro smirked slightly. This was going to get interesting.

---

"So, I learned of the real cause of my parents' death. I had been taken to teach them a lesson and they had come to get me back. The guards would not allow them and set a Chimera on them. They died while fighting. I was told they had died in a car crash. And so began my years in a living hell with Haru their beside me," Sahara said, and smashed her leg against a Chimera. She groaned again. "GO AWAY ALL OF YOU!"

Hikaru chuckled slightly. But then his face turned serious. "Is that why you would tell me what happened to them?"

"Exactly. Hikaru get behind something solid. There is going to be an explosion."

"What?"

"SOMETHING SOLID!"

"Right!" He quickly scurried toward the stone pillar nearby.

"RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE! RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE! RIBBON SAHARA SHAKE!" Sahara's yells echoed across the basically abandoned zoo.

An explosion rocked the ground and Hikaru teetered. He peaked around the pillar to see Sahara standing still in the middle of the area. All the Chimeras around her began to change back into animals, which all ran, slithered, flew, and hopped away. A large number of small floating alien-like animals floated around and Hikaru heard a chirping coming toward the area.

"Retrieval! Retrieval!" a small, pink, fluffy robot chanted as it sucked up the floating animal things.

"Mew Sahara!" came a yell and Hikaru saw Mew Pudding and Mew Lettuce running toward Sahara.

"You guys take forever to get here," Sahara sighed and slipped to the ground. She spread out her legs and leaned back.

"Sahara-san! You're bleeding," Lettuce gasped.

"It's fine, it's fine. Just a cut."

"You did a good job Sahara-onee-chan na no da! All the big bad Chimeras are gone na no da!" Pudding marveled.  
"Well I did my job, did I not?" Sahara stood up carefully. "Hikaru-nii! You can come out now!"

Hikaru walked slowly toward them, waving at Lettuce and Pudding, who gasped.

"You told him, Sahara-san?"

"He figured it out. Sorry 'bout that."

"It'll be fine na no da! He was going to figure it out anyway na no da!"

Sahara brushed herself off. "Will you guys be able to handle it from here? I have some people waiting, and I still have no idea what I'm going to tell them."

"Go ahead, you finished off all the Chimera anyway," Lettuce said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep na no da!" Pudding assured.

"Thank you!" Sahara focused and turned back to normal and then turned to Hikaru. "Nii-chan, let's go. Haru-nee and David-kun are going to be worried."

Hikaru smiled down at her. "Ok. Bye!" He lifted his hand in a parting wave and followed Sahara, who was trotting ahead.

---

Hikaru looked at her arm. "You're still bleeding."

"Aw, crap." Sahara looked as well. "I'm going to have a really sore back. Man, this sucks."

"What should we tell those two?"

"That is a good question…"

---

"There you are! We were so worried!" David started as Haru's voice rang out.

"Sorry about that," Sahara said sheepishly.

"Where we you?" David asked.

"Er… Well, that big elephant thing knocked me out and Hikaru found me when he came back. He stayed with me until I woke up."

"Are you ok?" David asked again, going to stand by Sahara, looking her over.

"Yeah. I think I cut my arm, but the bleeding stopped."

Hikaru walked over to Haru and their eyes met. "Let's go talk," Haru said, pulling Hikaru away from Sahara and David.

"I'll take care of her!" David called after them. Sahara turned red but shook it off.

"Well, I missed your birthday so I'll have to make it up to you."

"What? You didn't even know it was my birthday!" Sahara exclaimed, amazed.

"I owe you one anyway. I'll show you someplace really nice!" David pulled Sahara by the hand down the street.

When they came to a stop David walked over to a bike rack and began to unlock a bike.

"Why do we need a bike?" Sahara asked, confused.

"I don't think it would be good to walk. Plus my bike is right here." A clank was heard as he pulled the bike out. "Here we go." He mounted the bike and motioned Sahara to get on.

"How am I supposed to get on?"

"You can stand on the back wheel things. I don't know what you call them, but they are sturdy enough to stand on."

Sahara carefully stood onto the back plastic pieces and David peddled the bike forward. Sahara let out a squeal.

"Hold on tight!" David called to her. (A/N Do not attempt at home.)

David peddled and Sahara lifted her face to the wind. It felt so good…

---

"Here we are!" David said happily. Sahara jumped off and David chained the bike to a nearby post.

"A park?"

"It's nice to look at the stars at the top of that hill."

"I see," Sahara glanced at the top of the hill about 15 yards away.

"I'll beat you there!" David yelled and began to sprint.

Sahara began to run. "Watch your challenge! You won't beat me!"

David began to run and Sahara pushed even more. Sahara was up the hill 5 seconds before David was. She collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky.

"Aren't the stars pretty?" she asked, breathlessly.

"Yeah," David wheezed. "They really are."

They both stared up at the stars and Sahara closed her eyes.

---

"So did she tell you?" Haru urged.

Hikaru nodded. "She told me everything."

"I can't help but feel for her. I mean, her parents were murdered and she never even knew until just a few days ago. It's just horrible…" Haru trailed off.

Hikaru hugged her. "I know what you mean."

Haru relaxed as Hikaru held her. "I mean my parents disowned me. Basically I was sold to that horrid place. At least I knew about my parents. Sahara was forced there and everything, and the evil guards…"

Hikaru rubbed her shoulders reassuringly. "Spix-chan can fend for herself. But she needs someone to help her along. That's why she should get to know David-san better."

"I think he could help. He could break down that stone wall around her heart."

"He already is working hard at it." Hikaru snuggled Haru. They stood in silence for a minute.

"I love you," he said finally. He leaned down slightly and kissed her passionately.

"Mmm…" Haru moaned with delight.

As they broke away at last she uttered four words that made Hikaru's day. "I love you too."

---

"Sahara-chan? If I told you my dreams would you laugh?"

"I'd never laugh. My mom told me never to laugh at anyone's dreams."

"Hm? Really? What is your mom like?"

"… She was nice, and kind. She was gentle and stuck up for what she believed in. My dad was the same way."

"Was?"

"They died," Sahara whispered painfully.

"Oh. I'm very sorry to hear that."

"What are your parents like?"

"Well, my father died when I was young in a car crash, but my mom is like your mom I guess. But she takes care of me on her own. She works hard and is strong."

Sahara felt a pang in her chest, much like someone had stabbed her heart with glass. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said weakly.

"It's fine… My dream when I was small was to fly to the moon. It was so big and bright, and was always there."

"That's a nice dream."

There was silence and Sahara could hear a cat growl close-by and some traffic in the distance.

"Do you have a dream Sahara-chan?"

"No."

"Oh."

"I have no ideas for a dream that is," she said gently.

"Ok, I get it."

"My mom had a list of rules that she told me all the time when I was little. I guess my dream was to be like her."

"What was the list like?" David asked curiously.

" Well, here's the best I can remember.

"ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully…

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name-calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone."

"She seems like she was a nice person."

"Yes…" She said. She could hear the pain in her voice. She slowly sat up and beside her David did the same.

Suddenly she felt a pair of arms embracing her and pulling her close. "David-kun?" she squeaked.

A sigh answered her question. She found herself leaning against David's chest and she sat there, stone still.

_What is this feeling inside? Like my heart is being ripped apart? I can't stand it. I hate it. Make it go away, _Sahara though desperately.

She found herself shaking in David's arms, and he tightened his grip around her.

"It hurts… It hurts. It hurts," Sahara whispered.

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry," David said gently, holding her more carefully.

Sahara shook her head 'no' carefully. "It hurts," she said tearfully. "It hurts so much, David-kun!"

"What hurts?" David was becoming more and more worried with every word she said.

Sahara closed her hand in a fist, and David put his hand onto of hers. He fisted his hand over hers. She slowly lifted the fist and put it on her chest.

"My heart."

---

David quickly withdrew his hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"…I don't know!"

David's eyes widened slightly. Sahara sounded so upset and confused.

Sahara put her head in her hands and let out a soft moan as her cool hands felt her hot face. She had no idea what to think. She couldn't make heads or tails of anything; she just wanted to be alone.

"I should take you home," David's voice came quietly.

"No!"

David glanced at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Err… I mean… No. I don't want to handle a house of kids tonight. I can't handle that right now."

"I see."

" I just want to be left alone. Or just stay here. It's so nice. But I'm so damn CONFUSED!" Sahara's voice rose with each word she said, screaming the last one. She could feel tears pouring down her face. She tried to wipe them away angrily, but they flowed endlessly.

Sahara closed her eyes and took deep breaths trying to make sense of anything. She heard the same cat hiss very loudly and with a start opened her eyes. David's face was close yet again to hers. She leaned forward hiding her face in her legs. The tears flowed like a waterfall.

David just watched sadly and put his hands on Sahara's shoulders. She didn't react.

---

"Where is Shirogane-san?" asked Lettuce. "I haven't seen him in awhile."

Keiichiro sighed. They were just finishing up at the zoo and were headed back to their homes. "He said something about finding someone. I have no idea what he's doing."

Ichigo scoffed next to him. "Does anyone ever?"

---

David shook Sahara's shoulders lightly. She moved and David was suddenly embraced. He could feel her body shaking with each sob she let out, and he sat there, dazed, with Sahara's arms around him.

It took him a few seconds but he finally managed to put his arm reassuringly around her. "Shhh. It's ok."

Sahara let out a cry again and hugged him tighter. David sat there just letting her cry on his shoulder. He heard the cat hiss quietly again. That cat was getting to be annoying.

---

A few minutes later, Sahara's sobs stopped. As David tilted her head slightly up he realized that she had somehow managed to fall asleep. He ran his hands through hair. What was he supposed to do now?

He shifted and began to stand and carefully moved Sahara so she was on the ground. Once he was standing he picked her up and held her carefully. 'Now what?' he thought.

He carefully tried to put Sahara on her feet and leaned her against him but she kept collapsing. He turned as he heard some bushes rustle nearby. Out of the bushes came a teenage boy with blond hair. It took David less then 2 seconds to figure out that this was Sahara's employer.

"Ah, so this is where you went," the man said as he came towards them. "I was wondering where Sahara made off to."

David smiled weakly. "I'm sorry but she fell asleep and I was wondering how I was going to get her home."

The guy waved his hand and said, "Don't worry I'll take care of it. I'll take her to where she can sleep, so you can go home as well." He picked up Sahara and shifted her in his arms effortlessly.

"Thank you. Tell her thank you when she wakes up please," David said as he turned to go toward his bike.

"Can do," the blonde said and began to walk in the opposite direction.

---

"There you are!"

Ryou flinched as he heard Keiichiro's voice.

"You are so late! What were you doing?" Keiichiro looked at Sahara fast asleep in Ryou's arms and looked at him quizzically.

"I was looking for this idiot," Ryou responded, lifting Sahara slightly. "She was out with some guy and I found her." He added, muttering, "Shouldn't be out with some strange guy anyway. The jerk tried to make a move on her."

"You were spying?"

Ryou flinched again. "It was NOT spying. I was merely making sure that she was ok. Besides they didn't see me."

Keiichiro's gaze didn't soften but he let out a sigh. "I'll take her upstairs," he said taking Sahara from Ryou's arms. "But she isn't going to be happy if she figure out you were spying on her."

"Well, then don't tell her. And I wasn't SPYING!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Ahaha! I forgot to add the ending speech by me last time. I was so happy to be done, that I just posted it without thinking. XP Smooth… Anyway this section will be a bit longer because I forgot last time. **

**Thanks for reading the last chapter. I know it sucked. I know you all are pretty angry with me for not getting it up sooner. It was at least 3 or 4 weeks after I began to write it. I've been so busy lately with school (Rube Goldberg project is driving me up a wall), forensics (you all should be happy to know that I got to state. I had forensics like every weekend all day basically) and music! I play the piano and the saxophone and I had a HUGE piano tournament (which I did very well in) and Solo & Ensemble for saxophone (which our flute, trumpet, and sax trio aced). So… Yeah. I've been very busy. I know it is not a good excuse, but hey. Even if I got to the computer I've been catching up with what I've missed. **

**Concerning the last chapter, did anyone notice how Ryou was spying on David and Sahara? He was ALTO! YEAH ALTO! And those rules were from a chain email I got. It was pretty cute. Sorry if the chapter sucked. I got my mused kidnapped and held for ransom. I finally got it back with some spare change in my pocket. :P The chapter sucked. (How many times have I said this so far?) I got my mused kidnapped and held for ransom. I finally got it back with some spare change in my pocket. **

**Well I hope you enjoy this chapter. I hope that Satari will be popping up in this chapter. That or the next one. Well anyway, here is the 21st chapter or Running Forever!**

**By the way to all those that reviewed the last chapter a special thanks. This is in place of guessing the person at the top. That was Sahara by the way. -**

**TRICKxORxTREAT, Tomoyo Kinomoto, Dark Flamingo, Silver Artic Wolf, Xx-Hazelnut-xX, arigato gonzaimasu!**

**Disclaim: Well guess what! Nothing new has happened. I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, Haru, Hikaru and hopefully a character that should be appearing soon! (I promise Apple-chan!)**

**---**

Sahara's eyelids fluttered and she instantly sat up, eyes flashing green with fear until she realized where she was. She stared dully at the white walls of the sun-lit room and shivered slightly as she moved under the cool sheets. She pushed them off and her bare feet met the tile. "Argh! COLD!" she shrieked. A shock of pain rode up her back and she winced.

Keiichiro's head popped into the room. "It's nice to see that you are up, Sahara-chan."

"Good morning," Sahara managed as she quickly began to look for socks to wear. "Oh yeah," she added. "How did I get here?"

"Ryou brought you home after finding you with you friend."

"Hmm. I see." She pulled on the socks and stood. "Where is he?"

"Ryou's probably in the basement. Why?"

"I'm going to thank him," she said cheerfully. She replayed the events of the previous night and tried to keep her face cheerful. Had she really said all that to David?

She brushed past Keiichiro and slid down the banister. Then she threw open the basement door and thundered down them. "Yo!" she called as she caught sight of Ryou.

"You sleep a lot you know that?"

"I was expecting a 'Good morning, Sahara', not 'You sleep a lot you know that?' Ryou-nii."

"Too bad." His fingers flew across the computer and he frowned at the screen. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for yesterday."

"Hmp."

"What's that supposed to be?"

Ryou looked at her, exasperated. "That was a 'you're welcome'."

"Whatever." She sighed slightly and looked over his shoulder. Her eyes focused on the information on the computer. "You aren't serious."

"What?" Ryou asked turning his head to look at her.

"These are all possible places for Mew Aqua to be, isn't it? Places for aliens to attack, Chimera Anima to wreck havoc?"

Ryou cocked his eyebrow. "How did you figure that out?"

Sahara grinned mischievously. "It's not like we didn't have computer hackers in our mist at the containment area. We had plenty of good hackers. We all were able to learn quickly. How do you think me and Haru-nee got out?"

Ryou opened his mouth to say something but Sahara quickly intervened. "You got a rubber band? I want to put my hair up." Ryou's mouth closed and he gave her an unreadable look. He stood up and pushed the chair back, and Sahara jumped out of the way.

"Yeah." He dug though a drawer and produced a rubber band.

"Thanks."

Keiichiro appeared with a tray of tea in his hand. "Tea, anyone?"

Sahara gratefully accepted the cup.

"Did you tell her, Ryou?"

"What?" they both asked together.

Keiichiro smiled. "Ryou was spying on you last night, Sahara-chan. When you were with David-san."

Sahara's eyes flashed a bright red as she turned on Ryou. Ryou had sipped his tea, but when Keiichiro had finished he accidentally sprayed in back into his cup. "I WAS NOT SPYING!" he yelled.

Sahara socked his arm. "Idiot!" she growled. She ran to the stairs. "I'm leaving."

"Wait!" Ryou called. "I have something for you." Sahara turned again and glared at him. He chucked a white object and a bottle toward her, which she grabbed and climbed the stair two at a time.

"Nice going," Keiichiro commented. Ryou just glared at him.

---

"The nerve!" Sahara whipped down the sidewalk, weaving in between people. The wind whipped her hair into her face. She stopped and pulled the rubber band around her hair. After pausing momentarily, she accelerated and headed deeper into Tokyo.

She finally slowed down in front of the Tokyo Zoo. She looked up at the sign the felt her pocket. She hoped he had enough to get in. She was going in either way. She pulled out the right amount she let out a sigh of relief. She went up to the teller and gave her the money. Bored, the teller handed her back a ticket. "Have fun," she said, sounding like she'd rather be slowly devoured by piranhas. Sahara grinned at her.

"I will."

---

She approached the reptile house and sat down on a bench outside. She looked at the pile in her hands. A white snake-like object and a bottle that had roughly written on it 'Color Cover'. Sahara just stared at the object with confusion. She looked around. There was almost no one at the zoo that day, since the events of the previous day. She saw a note attached to the bottle with string. She pulled off the note. On it read,

'Idiot Sahara,

Here is your birthday present. In the bottle are drops that you put in your eyes; it covers up the color changing. So your eyes will stay one color instead of changing for about 7 hours. But beware; if your emotions are too strong the drops will wear off. Be sure to use this to make sure, no one else discovers who you are. And the white thing. Its name is R2007. It is designed to help you find aliens and Mew Aquas. It can also help us communicate with you. It is going to prevent a lot of screw-ups.'

Sahara hissed annoyed by him. "Jerkwad!" she muttered and kept reading.

'Take good care of it. Name it whatever you want. Make sure you bring it back so we can make repairs. Good luck.

Ryou'

Sahara poked the white snake with her index finger. It shifted and looked up at her with black eyes. It began to hover with black wings and fluttered around Sahara's head. "You're so cute," she said finally. "I need a better name for you though. For all I know the R in R2007 probably stand for Ryou. He is such a narcissist. So now you are S2007. But we need something else too…"

Sahara looked around and saw a flyer on a board and stood up and walked over to it. S2007 floated after her. It was an advertisement for a video game store. She stared at the poster for a few second before looking up to the little robot.

"How about Satari?"

The robot tweeted loudly. "Yes! Yes!" it cried happily.

"Satari it is then."

She jogged back over to the bench and grabbed the bottle. She leaned back her head, pulled up an eyelid and squeezed the bottle slightly. Once the liquid fell into one, she did it to the other. She blinked hard and went over to look in the glass.

Her eyes were a light brown. She thought about where she had spent 8 years of her life, and her eyes stayed the same. Her eyes widened in surprise. They actually worked.

'I'll have to thank him later,' she made a mental note.

"C'mon, Satari! Let's go see Davi!"

The small chunk of metal and electronic parts floated after her, chirping happily.

---

Haru quickly flipped a pancake, pushed around some scrambled eggs, and yelled at Pudding to try and keep her siblings from breaking anything.

Pudding looked at Haru and smiled. "Haru-onee-chan is becoming a great multi-tasker na no da!"

"I'm hoping that's a good thing," she responded, panting. "Sahara-chan still hasn't come back, has she?"

"I haven't seen her na no da! You could call the café and check there na no da! I bet Ryou-onii-chan would know where she is na no da!"

"Thanks Pudding-chan. Could you hand me the phone?" She flipped another pancake, and pushed some eggs onto a plate. "FOOD!" she bellowed, and within seconds all the Fongs, excluding Pudding, where around the table.

Pudding tossed Haru the phone, and Haru caught it with her left hand. She flipped a pancake on the plate of a waiting kid and dialed with the other hand.

"Moshi, moshi," answered Ryou's voice, which sounded exhausted.

"It's Haru, have seen Sahara?"

A sigh answered the question. "Yeah."

"I need more information then that!" A shattering of plates made Haru flinch. "Careful!" she hollered to Honcha.

"Was that the sound of plates breaking?" Ryou asked, sounding amused.

"Yes. Please answer my question."

"She left a few minutes ago. I have no idea where she's going."

"Well thanks for your help," Haru growled sarcastically.

"Anytime."

Haru pushed the OFF button as hard as she could. "Jerk!"

"Learn anything na no da?" Pudding asked as the kids scarfed down their meals, like they hadn't eaten in days.

"Only that she's pretty angry, and we have no idea where she is."

"Angry, na no da?"

Haru grinned. "Shirogane was sounding exhausted. Sahara-chan must have up a fight."

---

Sahara dug a piece of paper out of her pocket and part of a pencil. She quickly scribbled a note against the wall and thrust it at Satari. "Please bring this to Ryou-nii. Tell him it's all the thanks he's getting."

Satari tweeted and grabbed the note and fluttered off again.

She sighed and walked through the exhibit until she came to Davi's cage. "Hello, Davi."

"Human? What are you doing here?"  
Sahara looked annoyed. "Is that all I'm going to get out of anyone?! I say hi, and I don't even get a 'yo' in return! Seriously!"

"'Yo'?" Davi quoted.

"Anyway didn't I tell you not to tell me 'human'?"

"What of it, human?"

"I'm going to give up with that notion. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi."

She looked into Daija's area too. "Daija?" she asked tapping the glass.

The python stretched and then looked at Sahara with what she could only guess was surprise. He quickly slithered over to the glass that separated Davi from him.

"Davi! That human is talking to us!"

"No really?" Davi replied.

Daija groaned. "This is horrible! A human talking to us!"

"I'm standing right here you know." Sahara puffed.

Daija looked terrified as a snake could. "She can tell what we are saying!"

"Daija, calm down. This human has snake DNA in her. She can talk to snakes. So just calm down."

Daija calmed down. "Oh."

Sahara sat down on the platform that the information about the animal in the area was. "You should hear yourself. It's so funny!" She laughed. "Man, really. That was great."

Davi slithered in Sahara's direction. "Why do you have snake DNA in you though?"

"I'm a Mew Mew," Sahara stated simply.

"A what now?" asked Daija.

"A Mew Mew. Do you know how the zoo was attacked last night?" The snakes bobbed their heads. "Well I, along with a group of 5 other girls, helped save your zoo from a group of evil aliens."

"And I am supposed to believe this?" Davi asked.

Sahara pulled out her pendant. "I'll show you then."

---

Ryou started as he heard a twittering from behind him. He swiveled in his chair and saw Satari. "What?" He noticed the note that Satari held. He unfolded it and began to read.

'Dear Jerkwad,

Thank you for the stuff. I really like it. And I named your "R2007" Satari. Say hello to Satari for me. Then can you send him back? He knows where to find me. That eye stuff really works too. Thanks. All in all, thank you. But you are still a spying narcissist jerk.

Your Experiment,

Sahara Sohma

P.S. Just so you know, I can talk to snakes. And my back hurts from yesterday. You owe me one.'

Ryou began to chuckle and then burst into full out laughter. Keiichiro sent him a look from across the room but Ryou was laughing to hard to notice. He waved Satari away and managed to gasp out, "Go… Sahara…" before bursting into laughter again.

---

Sahara changed back to normal and grinned at the two snakes. "Ha! Believe it!" she grinned.

"Ok, point taken," hissed out Davi.

Sahara gave a small gasp as her back had a great pain run through it. She gritted her teeth and smiled at Davi.

"Say it."

"You are correct," Daija managed.

"That's a good snake."

"Human."

"You going to tell me that I'm right too?"

"No," Davi stated. "I was going to tell you that your shoulder is bleeding."

Sahara put her hand to her shoulder and drew it away. It was covered in blood again. "Dammit."

"Bye guys! I'll see you later!" She rushed from the building. Not only was she going to be late for work, but she was also bleeding. '_This sucks!_' she thought angry.

She ran and brushed shoulders with someone else. Her face screwed up for a second and turned to see who she had bumped. David looked at her worriedly. "Are you bleeding?" he asked confused.

"Can't talk! Got to run! I'll be at the café!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ran quickly toward the café. Her face burned a bright red. Thoughts of last night rushed through her brain and her pace picked up.

---

Haru sighed as she changed into her outfit. Sahara was going to be late if she didn't show up soon. The door smashed open and Lettuce jumped away from the door squeaking. '_Speak of the devil_.'

"Sorry, sorry. Just forgot about the time." Satari floated over her shoulder, which Haru noticed was bleeding.

"What's that na no da?" questioned Pudding as she poked Satari.

Ichigo stared at it. "Is it like another Masha?"

Sahara grinned weakly. "Exactly. I named him Satari."

Masha floated over to Satari and they floated together, chirping happily.

Zakuro glanced at Sahara's shoulder. "You're bleeding."

"Yeah, I know."

Haru pulled on the last of her outfit. "I'll go find the first aid kit. Be more careful," she scolded Sahara.

"Yeah, yeah. It just opened up from last night."

Mint looked over Sahara. "You going to be okay?"

"Don't worry about it. Sorry about leaving you with Ichigo-chan last night," she said smiling at Mint.

Ichigo let out a "HEY!" and Mint laughed. The day was beginning.

---

The day rushed by and Sahara rushed around with a bandaged shoulder. Haru filled orders with Zakuro (who couldn't fulfill the 'service with a smile' part of the job), Lettuce helped deliver (and lots of accidents almost, if it hadn't been for Ichigo and Sahara's quick reflexes) with Mint (when not drinking tea). Sahara collected orders, and Pudding handled the cash register.

The day went relatively well, if not for the kitchen almost catching on fire, a great deal of broken dishes, some scared customers, and a Chimera attacking at noon (which Lettuce, Zakuro, and Mint dealed with).

Sahara swept the outer café, while the rest of the girls changed or where in the kitchen. Zakuro had left earlier, and Mint left for her "Japanese dancing classes" about and hour earlier. Sahara felt exhausted. Her back ached and her shoulder would throb every so often as to remind her that it was there.

She swept back and forth but her mind was far from the work. Truthfully she was about to fall asleep, and was using the broom as a prop to stand up. A clatter from the kitchen snapped her into shape and she quickly began to sweep again.

The bell on the door rang and she looked up surprised. David walked toward her. "Hello," he said.

"Hello," she replied. "Nice to hear someone who actually answered correctly," she added under her breath.

"I just wanted to check on you. You were in such a hurry this morning."

"Oh yeah… Sorry."

"And your shoulder was bleeding." He glanced at her shoulder. "It seems fine now though."

"Yes, thanks for your concern. And David-kun?"

"Hhm?"

"Thank you for last night. You made me feel a lot better."

David looked greatly relieved. "No problem."

She leaned the broom against a table and stretched. She thrust her hand out at David. "Thank you. I feel MUCH better now!" she chirped happily. It was true, for some odd reason there was a great bubbly feeling in her chest. It felt wonderful.

She got a smile in return and a hearty handshake. "You don't have to thank me so much though. Anything for you."

Sahara blushed a deep red and looked away. She turned back and David was close to her and their noses and lips just about to meet. She turned an even deeper red and began to pull away. "Sorry," she muttered and was about to bolt when she heard, "Wait!" and someone's hand grabbed her wrist. As she whipped around, her lips met David's and he pulled her into a deep kiss.

---

She was stunned. Absolutely stunned. She stood there, feeling David's lips against hers. And stunned as she was, she was enjoying it. As the shock began to wear off, she began to return the kiss. Slowly she pushed her lips to his. She heard a little moan of approval and David's hand snaked around her waist. She put her hands to his chest and kissed him harder. And he returned it.

He would kiss her harder, then gently, and then harder again, as if testing her, or saying, 'Are you ok with this?' She answered the non-verbal question by letting out a very soft groan every time he pushed his lips to hers harder.

They finally broke apart and Sahara let out a very soft growl of annoyance. She didn't want it to stop. '_What am I thinking? He just kisses me, and I go kissing him back? We were just about making out!' _A blush splashed itself over her cheeks.

"So, I'm guessing you liked that." Sahara started and saw David with a small smile on his face. She was afraid for a second but she realized that his voice had cracked.

"W-why?" was all she could manage before she had to look away.

He clicked his tongue. "Every time I've tried to kiss you before, you always turn away or run away. I was tired of it. I wanted to kiss you."

"Well… Then I guess I liked it." Sahara whispered.

David's lips pressed hers again, and she replied immediately. They stood lips locked for a while. David teased her, by running his tongue over her bottom lip, and all she could do was shutter and moan with pleasure. She felt light-headed and dizzy. But it wasn't bad at all; it was wonderful. She loved it, and it felt great.

They broke apart again and David hugged her against his chest.

Sahara blushed and tried to clear her head, she felt so light-headed. She hoped she wouldn't faint.

Another clatter in the kitchen caused Sahara to jump. The door to the café was pushed open and the couple quickly jumped away from each other, trying to make it look like they had just been talking. Sahara grabbed the broom and began to sweep furiously.

Ichigo surveyed the scene as Lettuce meekly followed a bounding Pudding and Haru walked smiling out.

"Was something going on here?" she asked mischievously. David blushed slightly and Sahara turned the color of a fire truck and began to sweep even faster.

"Just talking!" David quickly covered.

"Why are you blushing na no da?" Pudding asked Sahara who was spreading dust more then cleaning it.

"N-no reason!"

Lettuce smiled as well as Ichigo. Haru stood next to Sahara and whispered in her ear, "Nice choice."

Sahara shot Haru a glare, but Haru ignore the glare and turned to David. "Please take good care of her!" she commanded.

"Yes, ma'am!" David replied grinning.

"What?" Sahara asked confused.

Ichigo laughed and Lettuce began to laugh softly. Pudding just skipped around Sahara singing, "Sa-ha-ra-nee and Da-vid-nii sit-ting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G na no da!"

Sahara smacked Pudding lightly onto of the head and everyone laughed at Pudding's theatrics. '_It had been a good day,_' though Sahara happily.

---

Haru and Sahara walked side-by-side back to Pudding's house. Pudding had raced ahead saying she needed to start dinner. They had walked in silence for about a half minute until Haru broke the silence.

"He better be good to you."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting something?"

Haru laughed at Sahara's angry face. "Not really. But I saw you guys making out in the café, so I wouldn't be talking."

"HEY! I don't think YOU should be talking! You are always making out with Hikaru-nii!"

"That's different. You already knew. At least we have the decency to kiss where people aren't watching us!"

"It's not my fault you looked in on us!"

"You were so noisy though, all moaning and groaning… Wouldn't be surprised if Ryou-kun heard you."

Sahara turned beet-red. "I was not that loud! Ryou-nii would have my hide if he found out though."

"He probably already knows."

"Now I don't want to go to work tomorrow! I'm scared now, Haru-nee! Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome."

They approached the front door to Pudding's house.

"Haru-nee, I'm not that hungry. I'm just going to go to bed."

"You full? You had enough of David-kun?"

Sahara socked Haru's arm and stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm just tired that's all."

"Whatever you say."

---

"I DON'T WANT TO BE LATE!" wailed Sahara, who was flying down the street, feet barely touching the sidewalk.

"Dammit, Haru-nee! Why did you leave! NOW I'M GOING TO BE LATE! Pudding's already there too! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!" She pushed herself and she began to go faster. She dodged in and out of all the people, calling out her apologies if she hit anyone. She slowed down as she began to turn the corner, but not enough. She was already on a crash-course.

Sahara landed hard on her hands, which she had learned to put first when you fall. She pushed up with her hands and was on her feet immediately. She thrust her hand out to help the person, while apologizing profusely. She quickly glanced down at her, er… victim and noticed that it was a girl about her age with grayish hair. The girl looked up at her with emerald eyes and carefully took Sahara's hand. There was something the girl's eyes that Sahara could relate to. But the girl looked at her, with a look of realization and the girl opened her mouth as she was pulled to her feet.

"Sahara-chan?"

Sahara looked at her quizzically and almost let go of the girl's hand as she pulled her up. "Yes? Do I know you?"

The girl looked confused and then her eyes changed again. "I'm… Never mind…"

Sahara glanced down at her watch and gasped. "SHIT! I'm going to be late!" She began to run at full speed down the street. She called over her shoulder to the girl. "Come by Café Mew Mew today or tomorrow and I'll make this up to you! SORRY!" She bellowed the last word and disappeared from the girl's view.

Kasuga Kotoko stared down the street where Sahara has turned. She smiled slightly and sighed. "She hasn't changed a bit."

---

Sahara burst into the café scaring Lettuce into dropping a plate, barged into the changing room, changed, and smashed the door open as she ran into the main part of the café, causing Ichigo's (who just arrived) ears and tail pop out.

"What the heck?" Ichigo cried as she tried to force her ears back into her head.

Sahara leaned back against the wall. "I'm here on time," she said in a singsong voice.

"You do realize that you are never late, no matter how much you think you will be," Haru commented as she came out of the kitchen.

"So?"

Haru just sighed. Sahara went over and began to help Lettuce clear up the plate and apologizing.

Ryou came up from the basement and surveyed the scene. He decided right then that it was going to be a long day.

---

The day passed without any abnormal instances. (Keep in mind what they qualify as "abnormal".) Lettuce managed to break a fortune in china and Pudding found that if she attached a rope at the right place, she could swing across the entire café and deliver orders at the same time (another small fortune in china, as Ryou saw what would happen).

A slow period came toward the end of the day. Almost no customers came in at that time. Sahara glared out the window. The sky was dark and she had a feeling that a storm was coming.

"I hope it doesn't knock anything over. The winds get really bad with clouds like this," she thought out loud.

Mint looked out as well. "Yes. There is supposed to be a lot of rain. I hope that anyone who is going to be out has an umbrella. I have a very nice one made from waterproof silk."

Before Mint could say anything, Haru and Sahara had turned sharply and looked at her with awe.

"What?" Mint asked confused.

"What are you talking about rain for?" Haru demanded.

Lettuce joined the conversation. "I-it's supposed to rain about 5 inches today. There is supposed to be chances of thunderstorms as well."

Sahara turned away scoffing. "Rain? Pfft. I doubt it."

"Why na no da?" Pudding asked as she balanced on a ball.

"There is never rain. That would be a miracle. I haven't seen rain in 8 years." Sahara replied.

"Same here," Haru added.

"What are you talking about? It rains all the time here," Ichigo said as she scrubbed at a table.

"Seriously?" Haru and Sahara asked simultaneously.

The heavens, as in answering their question, opened up. Rain began to hit the side of the café in sheets. Haru ran over to the door and opened it. She stuck her hand out, and as moisture landed on it, she quickly withdrew it. Haru began to laugh and Sahara rushed over as well. She was a bit more assertive then Haru and walked outside into the downpour. Haru joined her, and the rest of the Mews looked on at the two girls laughing hysterically in the rain.

Keiichiro and Ryou walked into the main part of the café to see the group of Mews staring at the two odd ones, who were laughing in the rain.

"What's going on?" Ryou asked no one in particular.

Ichigo responded in awe, "They haven't seen rain in more then half their lifetimes."

Keiichiro walked to the door and out it. He put a hand on each of the girls' shoulders and began to gently lead them back to the café. Haru was still laughing softly and as he looked at Sahara, he couldn't tell if it was just rain on her face or if tears had joined the rain.

Sahara lightly lifted his hand off her shoulder. She turned back into the rain and began to walk deep into the rain. Haru opened her mouth to call out, but Keiichiro lead her firmly back into the café. Haru closed her mouth and allowed herself to be led.

---

Haru stood at the door and looked out as the Mews worked around her. Ryou was giving her an odd look, and Keiichiro had given her a towel. She wrapped the towel around her hair and twisted it. She began to dry herself off, but stopped halfway into the process. "I'm going back out," she decided firmly. She set the towel on the table and began to walk to the door. A hand grabbed her arm.

Ryou was looking at her with a hint of concern in his face. He handed her a new towel. "You should stay here."

"I'm going. And I'll bring her back, so have some towels ready." She pushed the towel back at him and walked out the door. As the rain began to throw itself at her she to sprint into the storm.

---

The rain was coming down so hard that Haru was finding it hard to see a meter in front of her. As she made her way through the storm she saw Sahara standing in the middle of the park, with her head back. Haru quickly sprinted toward her, the rain smashing her face. Haru spit out some of her wet hair, cursing the heavens. Normally she would have never done this, but now she was just annoyed.

"Sahara-chan!" she called. Sahara turned around and gave a small wave. Haru slowed until she was next to Sahara, and saw that the water on her face was not just the rain.

"It's rain, Haru-nee. RAIN! It's been such a long time. And I know you like it too." Haru smiled and tears kept running down Sahara's face.

"Such a long time…" Haru whispered, and then Sahara was not the only one with two waters mingling on her face. The two girls hugged and sobbed into each other's arms. They did not cry with sadness, or anger. They cried with joy.

---

To Haru it seemed like they cried there for hours. She just stood there sobbing, until she felt a tug on her arm. Sahara's face was impossible to read, but her eyes revealed everything. She pulled Haru back toward the café, and they ran as fast as they could, yelling in the rain. By the time they reached the café, they both were so drenched that Haru couldn't feel her feet.

---

Sahara pushed open the door and shook like a wet dog. She heard squeals of protest from the other girls but just laughed. As she laughed she was suddenly bathed in white. "What?"

She felt the towel being roughly rubbed into her hair. "OW! WHAT THE HECK?" She tried to push whoever was rubbing her down away but the force rubbed harder.

"You're an idiot. I hope you realize that," came Ryou's voice, sounding annoyed.

"You're a meany. That's all I can say for you!"

The towel pulled away and a pile was flung into her face. "Dry off or you'll catch a cold," was all he said in reply.

As Sahara peeked over the mountain of towels in her arms, she saw Haru getting the same treatment from Zakuro. Excluding the harsh rubbing on the head. Haru was squirming under Zakuro's glare, but Zakuro gave Haru a small smile and handed her some more towels.

"There is a hair dryer up stairs," Keiichiro said from behind Sahara, making her jump. "You can bring it to the changing room to fully dry off."

"Ah, yes. Thanks…" Sahara scuttled toward the stairs with Haru not far behind.

"You're lucky," Sahara whined as they climbed the stairs. "You got a lecture from Zakuro-nee. At least she was better to you then Ryou-nii was to me. He's such a meany sometimes."

Haru laughed and ruffled Sahara's hair. "You know he means best." She grabbed the hair dryer from inside a cabinet. "Now let's go dry off."

---

**WhoOT! IT'S DONE! AT LAST!! Thank the lord… I was wondering how long this would take. Sorry that the ending REALLY sucked. I wanted to add that rain part in, but it ended up being really cheesy and sucked. **

**Keiichiro was so cruel at the beginning in my opinion, telling Sahara. But I made him that way, so I shouldn't be complaining. I'm sorry that some parts sucked, and there are obvious spelling mistakes. And if I'm correct on today the day I'm posting this (April 1st) it 3 days until I have been doing this story for a year. I really need to round this up and tie it off… **

**Apple-chan, and everyone, sorry that I haven't gotten more of the "mystery girl" in, but she is coming next chapter. I didn't add her at the end A) I wanted to end the chapter and B) I wanted to use the rain idea. So she's coming up next. I want this story to have 3 or 4 more chapters at the max. Which basically means LONGER CHAPTERS! YEAH!**

**Anyway, thanks for all the support and reviews. If you feel like leaving a comment, or idea, I'm happy to read them. I could always use them. Sorry about the grammar. Oh, and from April 5-14 I think, I am going to be in Washington DC for spring break. Maybe I'll see the president… Doubt it.**

**JA NE EVERYONE! Mew-Sahara, OUT!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Let's all sing together! (sings to the tune of 'Bingo') There was a girl who had a fanfiction and she was very LAZY! L-A-Z-Y! L-A-Z-Y! L-A-Z-Y! And she was very LAZY!**

**Yes. Can we all say, "Homework and other crap blocks up time that I would like to use to write, and plus even if I did have time, I never got around to it."? I know I can. **

**Well, I've been loaded up with schoolwork lately, and so we're all buckling down. Stupid end of the year homework. Sigh…. **

**I truly meant to get this up and starting writing after spring break. But I was gone all spring break and those were the first week or two of April. And it's May. (It was May when I was writing that. Now it's July…)**

**Truly, I just have been kind of putting this off. I'm slowly loosing my grip peoples. I've been writing oneshots, worrying about school, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new ****Maximum Ride**** book (has been out for, what 2 months now? July revision…) and other crap. But you all are most likely getting tired of reading me babble. So I'll stop writing this and start writing some of this story now. Oh yeah. One sec.**

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY **__**RUNNING FOREVER**___

**It's a happy birthday. This story has been running for a little over a year now. Crap. That's a long running story for me. **

**And this is my first fanfiction too…. Aw, man.**

**Disclaimer: TMM I do not own. Hikaru, Haru, and Kotoko. I do own other characters. Which hopefully you've noticed by now.**

**---**

_It was dark. So dark, and sounds of other humans screaming and crying were easily heard. Nothing could be seen except darkness. The black void was overwhelming, and her heart began to pound faster and faster. A pain shot up her side and she let out a scream. She felt as though someone had dropped her suddenly into a tub of ice. The dark and the cold chocked off her ability to scream, to breathe, to live._

---

Haru sat up sweating profusely. A scream had filled her ears, and it had taken a few seconds to register in her mind that it had been her scream. She shuddered and let out a soft moan. So dark and so cold... She hadn't even had to think about what her nightmare had been about. She already knew, and it was _there_.

She didn't want to think about it.

A sound of ruffling sheets came from somewhere on her left and a thump as heard quickly followed by a muttered swear.

Sahara was by her in seconds, looking worried and slightly terrified. "Are you ok?" she asked desperately.

Haru let out a small groan as her answer.

Hands pushed her down again on the futon. "Lie still," the snake-girl commanded, and stood and disappeared into the darkness of the house.

With a start Haru realized that it must have been late at night or very early morning. She tried to locate a clock, but the world spun if she tried to sit up, so she stayed down.

Her head throbbed and her throat felt like she had been left without water for 2 days. God, what had happened? The sound of footsteps skidded to a stop next to her and broke her from her thoughts.

Sahara leaned down over her and put a wet cloth on her forehead. A glass of water was also thrust into waiting hands.

Haru downed the entire glass within seconds.

Haru slowly lowered herself back onto the futon after she had drained the glass.

"Are you ok?" came the worried question again.

Haru croaked out a, "I'll be fine."

Sahara hovered above her, pacing across the room. "I told Pudding-chan to go back to sleep. You were having a nightmare weren't you?" She glanced down to look at Haru's expression.

Her expression was that of a person who was thinking hard. Haru nodded slowly, not looking at Sahara.

"It was about _there_ wasn't it?"

A shudder ran up Haru's spine again.

"It was," the voice above her whispered.

She felt a soft breeze float across her face as Sahara collapsed next to her. She felt a hand on her arm. "It'll be fine. If you need anything just tell me right away. You've helped me when I've had the dreams, so I'll help you."

A small noise of agreement floated from Haru's throat and Sahara let out a soft sigh.

"'Night, Haru-nee."

---

"Are you sure you're ok?"

Haru let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes I'm fine. It was just a nightmare," she replied.

Sahara opened her mouth, but Haru cut her off.

"I'm POSTIVE, ok?"

Sahara nodded slowly and pushed open the door out of the changing room. "You better not be lying," she threw over her should. The door had closed and the genetically enhanced girl was gone before Haru could chuck a retort at her.

"Jeez!" Haru muttered as she pushed open the door roughly. '_Why is she so… So… Arrogant?!'_

Ryou passed by her as she stormed into the main café. "Try not to break the floor when you stomp," he remarked and Haru glared at him. _'I think Sahara's been picking it up from some certain people.'_

---

"Table 8 please, Haru-chan!"

"Coming!"

"Pudding, I thought I told you that you can't type with your feet on the cash register!"

"Gomen Sahara-onee-chan na no da!"

"EEK!"

"Ichigo, get the plate before it falls!"

"MINT! STOP SLACKING! THERE ARE TOO MANY CUSTOMERS FOR THAT!"

"… Here."

"Zakuro, stop scaring the customers!"

"Ryou-nii, stop yelling at Zakuro!"

"You want me to yell at you instead, Sahara?"

"You already are you idiot!"

"Sahara-chan!"

"He started it Haru-nee!"

"Look na no da! I can swing from the chandelier with no hands and deliver at the same time na no da!"

"Pudding-san!"

"Pudding!"

"OWW!"

"That certainly must have hurt."

"Gomen, Ryou-nii-chan na no da!"

"GET DOWN!"

"Ryou-nii, go in the kitchen if you don't want to get hurt."

"…"

"Table 5, Ichigo-chan!"

"Coming Akasaka-san!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Lettuce-chan!!"

---

"Oh. My. God," Sahara gasped.

"Well, it's been worse," Ichigo replied.

"Ichigo, when have you seen worse," retorted Mint.

"...Never."

"Right, onee-sama?"

"Yeah."

Sahara stared at the full café. Things had gone crazy from the moment that the day had started. It was bad enough in the morning, but things had escalated all day.

And the worse part of it was…

It was only noon.

"Pudding-san! You shouldn't do that! Hanging from the ceiling is dangerous!"

"Ok, Lettuce-onee-chan, na no da!"

Sahara turned quickly. "Pudding-chan! Don't break anything!"

"I'll try na no da!" came Pudding's cheerful reply.

Haru rushed into the kitchen, successfully smashing Sahara in the face with the door.

"Hey!"

"Move it or lose it, Sahara-chan! A party of eight just entered the café!"

"WHY?!" Ichigo wailed.

"Stupid specials day," Zakuro muttered under her breath.

"Keiichiro-nii, why did you have to choose today?" Sahara groaned.

Keiichiro smiled at her happily. "Today just seemed like a good day."

Ryou entered the kitchen and looked at the gloomy girls. "Get to work, girls!"

"Right away na no da!"

"Don't Pudding!" Mint yelled. "You'll just encourage him!"

Ryou came over to the small group, grabbed Sahara and Ichigo both roughly by the arm and shoved them into the café.

"IDIOT!" they both screeched after him, as he disappeared into the kitchen once more.

As soon as they had both managed to possibly severely injure the ears of the people around them, their own ears were met with yells from every direction about getting water, ordering, etc.

Sahara went over to the door, held it open with a glare at the other girls inside the haven. "Let's go. We have hungry customers," she said with an ironic grin.

Zakuro went behind the group in the kitchen and herded them all out. Sahara leaned over to the counter by the cash register to grab a pad to write down orders.

As she pulled herself towards table 10 she heard a squeal and a crash of china on the hard tile floor. She winced and just kept walking towards the table. Lettuce and Mint would have to handle that.

---

Sahara moaned as a new wave of customers entered the café. "Jeez…"

She went up to a girl who was standing waiting and let out a cheerful, "Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Let me show you to a table!" As she grinned at the slightly disturbed customer, she realized that it was the girl she has crashed into from yesterday. "Hey!"

"Hello," the girl commented softly.

"I'll show you to a table right away! Whatever you order will be on the house," she exclaimed as she led the charcoal headed girl to a table.

"Thank you," the girl said smiling slightly.

Sahara handed the girl a menu and dashed like mad away from it as she heard a group of people start to yell something about water and ordering.

As she ran past the kitchen she called, "Haru-nee, there's an order ready for taking at table 15! Whatever she orders is on the house, okay?"

"Right!" came Haru's muffled yell.

Sahara grabbed a handful of menus and began her quest back to the large group of people. She forced a grin on her face and chirped out the memorized sentence while she handed out menus. "Hello, my name is Sahara, how may I serve you today?"

About 5 people all began madly grab for the menus and Sahara sweatdropped and let the menus fall to the table. 'Why me?' she groaned mentally.

---

Haru clicked her tongue and headed quickly over to the table wear the dark-headed girl sat.

As she neared the table a memory clicked in the back of her mind, something about darkness and a dark-headed girl sitting in a small group. She quickly shook her head, but the memory wouldn't fade. 'Have I met this girl before?' she thought desperately searching her mind.

She distractedly took the order but then when she finally couldn't take it anymore she leaned down to the girl. "Do I know you from somewhere? May I ask your name?"

The girl smiled up at her. "I'm glad someone was able to pick up on who I was. Sahara's as oblivious as usual, isn't she?"

Haru's brain began to whir again as the memories swept over her mind in a wave.

The girl resumed talking again. "My name is Kotoko. Kasuga Kotoko, really."

Haru's mouth dropped slightly. She hissed to the girl quickly and under her breath. "What in all of heaven and earth are you doing here?! You were locked up with the others weren't you?"

Kotoko's face darkened. "After you two left, while the defense where still weakened, we tried to sneak past some of the guards and lab coats. In the end, I was the only one who wasn't captured. But before we organized the escape a bunch of girls heard that you two had made it to this point but had gotten split up. So I made my way here, it took a long time and a lot of hitchhiking, but it was worth it. And then when I made it here I saw picture of someone that looked like Sahara. Slightly later I ran into Sahara, and now I'm here."

Haru grabbed Kotoko's arm gently and dragged her into the kitchen as Sahara also made her way in.

"What are you doing to that girl, Haru-nee-chan?"

"Kotoko-chan, are you sure you were the only one out? And why are you here?"

Sahara's face paled significantly at the mention of the emerald eyed girl's name. "Kotoko-chan?!"

"Yes, I was the only one who wasn't captured within a few days." Her eyes searched the kitchen. Some of the other Mews had seen what had been going on in this corner of the kitchen and two or three had come to listen. Keiichiro glanced at them out of the corner of his eye. She cleared her throat slightly.

"I'm not only here to see you and get away from that **place**," she spat the last word in disgust.

"I'm here to ask you to come back and help me free the rest of the kids stuck in there."

---

**Well, I decided to put this first, 'cause I'm not done typing this chapter, and I felt like I should get this out. (ahem)**

**I got my first "flame"! Can you feel the excitement in the air? By the size of this one, peoples, I can run this computer with out being plugged in for quite a while! -**

**To tell you the truth, I'm not that mad. I mean yeah, I've been added to a c2 called "Stories with Marysues, craving review authors, etc.". I don't care. I'm just happy that I somehow got added to another c2. But this is what gets me.**

**The person that has reign over this c2 has the message inside of the guild. It says, "Authors if you want your stories out of here take the litmus test and if you get under a 27 you are stuck here." Well guess what. I didn't take the test and I won't. But truthfully, I don't even know what a litmus test is. So whatever.**

**Oh yeah, and the staff have added 31 pages of stories somewhat like mine. 31 pages. That's a crud load of pages. **

**So if you get added to a c2 with a name like the one above, or get flamed or whatever to your story, remember this: Your story doesn't suck. People just don't care how long you've worked on it, or that you know that you are trying to improve with your writing. Or that you write for fun. You posted a story, you probably got reviews, and that means that you've been added in with over a million other authors/authoresses just like you. So don't give a shit what other people say. If you are proud of your story, stay proud. If you aren't proud of your story, get proud.**

**So other inspiring authors/authoresses, don't get down 'cause someone flamed you or bad-mouthed you. You are good at writing if you believe you are, and no one can change that.**

**And thus ends my raving. **

**---**

**And yes, now that it is something like two months later and I look at what I wrote above, I find it kind of stupid. I don't really care about what happened anymore. It's been too long.**

**Yes, I'm very VERY sorry about the whole updating thing. I started writing this around… Spring break (back in April) and then school started to overload me, and then as soon as school let out, I was shipped off to Tennessee to live two weeks without any internet. And then after I got back, procrastination and a crud load of other stuff set in. Then last week I had classes at a local college and then I have a camp that I have to PA at, and I'll be sleeping overnight on and off. And I have to leave to go there in about… Less then ten minutes. **

**So that would explain any spelling errors, which I'm sure are numerous.**

**I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry again. We all have excuses, and I know mine aren't valid, but will you accept them? Please?**

**Short chapter, but who knows how long it would take me to put this up if you wanted it longer.**

**I'M SO SORRY! (throws candy to all those who read)**


	23. Chapter 23

**…. Don't eat me. **

**So much for updating about four times in the summer…. **

**Disclaimer: It's chapter 23, so don't look at me! I don't own, so just leave me alone… **

**Yeah, lame rhyming. But I own Sahara, David and Tort. XSTICKYXNOTEX (did I get that right?) owns Haru and Hikaru, and Applecake owns Kotoko.**

**Responses: **

**Review: LAUREN **WOW! THIS FANFIC IS BEAUTIFUL! tears, cries KEEP IT UP! I'M ROTTIN FOR YA! ANYONE ELSE WHO IS INDIFFERENT SHALL PAY FOR THEIR MOCKERY! GR! Anyways, good job and try to update soon, sumimasen. Gomen ne, I go on rants on any daily basis.

**Response: … Wow. That's probably one of the very best "rants" and reviews I've ever gotten. You reviewers sure know how to make a girl happy.**

**-shot for not updating-**

---

"I'm here to ask you to come back and help me free the rest of the kids stuck in there."

Sahara made a choking sound in the back of her throat. Haru's face lost more color. "Oh my god," Haru whispered.

Keiichiro had stopped icing the cake he had been working on, and Mint, who had been drinking tea, spit some back into her cup.

"Are you serious?" Sahara choked out. "Oh, man…"

Kotoko cocked her head slightly. "Oh course I'm serious. I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't, would I?"

"Totally out of the question. How are we supposed to do that?!"

Kotoko turned to face Haru. "I'm not sure. But I know we can do it! Sahara's got the firepower and you two are a great team. It could work!"

"What the heck do you mean by I've got the "firepower"?" Sahara tried to ask innocently.

"I saw you up on that screen. I know it's you in that Tokyo Meow Meows."

"Mew Mews," Sahara muttered.

Ryou opened the door from the basement and came into the kitchen. "What's going on?"

Pudding grinned at him. "Kotoko-nee-chan knows our secret, na no da! We don't have to hide it, na no da!"

Ryou's eyes darted to the charcoal-haired girl to Sahara, who refused to meet his glare. "Aw, crap, Sahara! Another one? Jeez, I swear to God, you've told the most people! It's three now, right? And to a perfect stranger?!"

Sahara stiffened. "Hey! It's not my fault! She figured it out, just like Hikaru! Cut me some slack! And she's not a perfect stranger, I know her!"

"Oh yeah? Who is she to you and what's she doing here?"

"Oh, for God's sake, Ryou!" She spit his name out in frustration. "She was at the same hell hole I spent most of my life, and she's here to ask me to get the rest of the kids there out!"

By this time the rest of the Mews had gathered into the kitchen, while Zakuro stood at the door and glared at the customers to keep the curious one away.

"Out of the question!" Haru and Ryou growled in unison. Haru raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"I know it doesn't seem that possible, but we could try! You don't know what it's like to live there, Ryou! I know Haru-nee has a good reason, but COME ON!"

"S-sahara-chan… It would probably be d-dangerous if anything…" Lettuce suggested weakly from the side.

Kotoko just looked on, casting glances at Sahara hopefully.

"I know that, but I've been pushing the line of 'dangerous' for quite a while. I don't see the reason to stop now!"

"Sahara-chan, there's a fine line between 'stupid' and 'dangerous', and I think you may be ready to pass those over too." Most of the group threw surprised glances in Keiichiro's direction.

"But…"

"He's right. Maybe some other time, but you have duties here too," Zakuro stated from the doorway.

Sahara pushed her lips into a thin line and released the tension in her shoulders. "Fine…" she muttered.

As the group slowly split to finish their duties, Sahara turned to Kotoko and mouthed, "Later, okay?" Kotoko grinned back.

"Sure."

---

Kotoko decided to stick around until the café would be closed, so she took up residence in the kitchen so not to hold up a table. Keiichiro gave her small tasks to do around the kitchen.

After much whining (not only from the customers) and an exhausting few hours later, the café turned out the last few customers and was ready for the closing cleaning.

Each of the girls grabbed a broom and began to work on sweeping to get the job done quicker. Within fifteen minutes the job was finished.

"What a day…" Mint groaned, pulling at her uniform to change into her street clothes.

"Yeah, we know it's a day if you actually do a bit of working," Ichigo commented loudly, yanking off her shirt.

The two began to bicker and the rest of the employees laughed.

Sahara slammed her locker closed and slumped onto the bench. "Ugh. Those customers get grabbier by the day. I almost got mauled by a group of little kids."

"At least school will be starting next week, so there won't be as many running around," Lettuce offered the 'hopeful' idea.

Ichigo, Mint and Pudding groaned loudly. "Pudding does not like school, na no da…."

"School?" Sahara prodded.

"Oh yeah,,," Mint trailed off as she stared at the fully changed Sahara and Haru. "You two probably have to get registered. I bet Ryou can handle that."

The two former escapees exchanged nervous glances.

When everyone and the group had finished changing they all moved from the room back into the now empty main café area. Ryou leaned against a table, and Kotoko perched on the edge of a different table.

Ichigo thrust her thumbs at Sahara and Haru. "Those two need to get registered for school."

"No, I'm sure we'll be good…" Sahara mentioned, waving her hands in a "heck-no!" gesture.

"I'll see what I can do," Ryou said with a smirk at the two school-less girls.

"Dang," Haru murmured. Sahara grunted in agreement.

Kotoko took the time to add into the conversation. "Not to be pushy or anything, but where am I going to stay?"

A silence fell over the café, and seven pairs of eyes moved to Ryou. Realizing he was outnumbered, he sighed. "There's a room upstairs… On the far left." A grin formed on Kotoko's face.

"Thanks!" she chirped happily.

The group of girls moved out the cafe main doors and began to go their separate ways. Goodbyes were exchanged and people began to leave.

"Haru-nee, you and Pudding-chan can go ahead. I need to talk to Kotoko-chan for a few minutes," Sahara said.

"See you then." Haru raised her hand in goodbye.

As Haru and Pudding walked off, or in Pudding's case ran, Sahara motioned to Kotoko to go closer to the café.

"Listen up. I don't care what they said about not helping you. I'm going to help you and those kids, and I have a plan. But first I have a question. How did you get here?"

Kotoko shrugged her shoulders, as to say 'no problem'. "You know that town that that **place** is close to?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the people there know what goes on in that place. And when I told them that I escaped… To put it in short, the paid for me to get here, with almost no questions asked."

"Yeah, those people are REALLY nice. That's how we got here too. I'm glad they could help you. It's just a shame they won't tell the government about there, or even the major public."

"That's very true…"

A silence filled the air between them. Sahara broke the silence with a sigh.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but get everything you brought here and keep it ready to run. I'm going to swipe Ryou's credit card and get us two tickets to the village. I'll pay him back later… And once at the village, we can plan the break in. We'll hopefully by the day after tomorrow. I'll see what I can do."

Kotoko blinked at the conclusion of Sahara's plan. "It may be crazy, but I think it'll work. Thank you so much!"

"I'm going to totally get busted for it, but it'll be worth it. Now I'm going to go find his credit card, but I need you to distract him for about seven minutes. Can you do that?"

"Yes, of course."

"Let's do this."

---

Sahara tiptoed down the stairs. After the two had gone into the café, Kotoko managed to get Ryou's attention, while Keiichiro was in the kitchen, and drag him up the stairs to get him "show her her room".

As she reached the bottom, she darted to Ryou's desk and immediately began to shuffle through the drawers. She would have to make sure they didn't look disturbed later, and she needed to hurry.

After about three minutes of searching she held up Ryou's wallet triumphantly. "Jackpot!" She yanked the first credit card out and quickly rearranged the drawers and their contents.

The dirty-blonde haired girl jammed the credit card into her pocket and moved up the stairs swiftly. She moved stealthily across the main café area and out the front doors. Once outside she whistled loudly three times and darted away from the building.

She hoped Kotoko got the message.

---

Racing across the sidewalk, maneuvering between the many people, Sahara let out a surprised yelp as she was roughly grabbed by the back of her shirt. As she whirled around to yell at the culprit, she came face to face with Hikaru. She inwardly groaned.

"Hey," she muttered. "You don't have to yank so hard, you know."

Hikaru rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry 'bout that. If I had grabbed your arm you probably would have had instincts to kick me in the gut."

"Probably," she replied, shrugging.

"You're in a big hurry. What's the rush?"

"Just promised to be home soon."

Hikaru motioned to her that they should move out of the traffic's way. "Something wrong?" he asked as they moved aside.

"N-nothing. Why?"

"You just looked kind of troubled. But I guess it's nothing," Hikaru smiled as he delivered the last words. "Sorry for holding you up. I just wanted to say hi. I'll maybe drop by tomorrow. Is that ok?"

"It's fine with me."

Hikaru waved his hand at her. "You can go. Sorry, again."

"No problem," Sahara shot back, as she started her race down the sidewalk again.

_'Now,'_ she thought. _'I just have to find a computer where I can buy some tickets. I'll see if I can use Pudding's family computer.'_

---

After the Fong's and Haru had long gone to sleep, Sahara rose like a vampire from its' coffin from her futon and made her to the old family computer. She clicked the screen on and stared at the screen. '_I saw that ad on the street for good plane tickets. I'll try that website…'_

She typed in the address and grinned happily as the bright yellow screen popped up. '_Perfect. Now, to find two plane tickets to Marzuq, Libya."_

---

Fifteen minutes of searching later, Sahara nodded satisfied at the screen. The cost was pretty expensive (she wouldn't be getting paid for quite a while, she wagered), but it was for a good cause. She had entered Ryou's credit card number, and set up plane tickets for both herself and Kotoko. She registered them both as the age of fifteen to hope that they wouldn't ask parental or guardian signatures. '_I really hope this works…_'

She printed out a passport for both girls as well. Hopefully security wouldn't notice that these were only temporary passports.

She logged out of the site and carefully deleted the history of the website she had been on and turned off the screen. Slinking quietly back to her futon, she collapsed. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, she was fast asleep.

---

A yawn and stretching was the second thing that Sahara did the next morning. The first was to swear violently as Haru chucked Suzume, the rabbit, at her stomach. "Up and at 'em, Sahara-chan!"

Dragging herself from bed, into the bathroom and into the shower was enough of a bother. As she rubbed her hair with a towel, she realized she would still have to pack for the next day's "adventure". Mumbling to herself, she emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and almost ready for work.

Pudding was busy flinging scrambled eggs across the kitchen, as Haru fiddled with the rice cooker. Hanacha handed Sahara a plate, and was surprised as a rush of yellow flung itself at her. Sahara raised the plate up in defense, only to catch the eggs Pudding had cooked.

"Pudding! Warn me!"

"Sure, next time, na no da!" Pudding returned to flinging, that time more gently, because she was throwing plastic bowls of rice.

Dodging the flying food, she placed the plate on the counter, and stuck her hand out for a bowl of rice. Three seconds later, her wish had been granted. Muttering something about soy sauce, she barely managed to grab the bottle as it hurdled in her direction.

Once the Fong kids had finished eating, it was time to drop them off at daycare. Sahara knew she was going to be feeling back pains the next day from carrying three of the kids on her back most of the way to their daycare.

Arriving at work, already exhausted, everything didn't get much better. Much to all the worker's relief, there was no special that day, so the customer amount wasn't nearly as high.

But, unfortunately, Café Mew Mew was still a very popular destination for girls (and a few guys) of all ages.

Work hit it's peak around noon, when Hikaru decides it's a good time for a visit.

"Hikaru-nii, if you had chosen _**any**_ other time then now, it would have been nice," Sahara complained, as she took his order.

"I told you I was coming didn't you?" he asked, grinning at her.

"Hmph." She stuck her tongue out at him. "You just came to see Haru-nee-chan, anyway."

"Not quite true!" Hikaru said, waving his finger at her. "This café also has come of the best cake in town. And if one my little friends," he further proved his point at that sentence by ruffling her hair, "and a very nice girl I know works here. See? Coming to see Haru-chan was just half of it!"

She groaned and walked back to slap his order on the counter.

---

A little after two o'clock, the aliens (more so Turn, Torte and Tart) decided that it would be fun to wreck some havoc in Tokyo. Leaving only Haru, Keiichiro, Kotoko, and Ryou behind, the Mews set off for a brief -though exhausting, they all agreed- battle. Apparently it had been Tart's brilliant brainchild to use flowers as Chimera Animas. Unfortunately for him, they remained normal-sized and easy to squash. Though, unfortunately for the Mews, there was a plethora of flowers in the area they were sent to.

The aliens had teleported off within five minutes into the battle, which left the Mews to stop on the seemingly never-ending amount of flowers. After a long ten minutes later, Masha finished sweeping up the rest of the para paras and the Mews set back for the café.

A few hours later of serving customers and the workload finally ended. Ichigo turned the 'Open!' sign to 'Closed' with a content sigh. "At last…" she moaned happily.

The girls with uniforms crowded into the changing room and began to strip off their clothes to change.

"Is it just me, or do the customers get grabbier by the day?" Haru asked the others.

"Definitely grabbier," Mint muttered.

Sahara sighed and sat on the bench enjoying the air on her bare back. Pudding leaned over to Sahara. "Hey, nee-chan, you've got a scratch on your back," the monkey-girl observed.

"What? Oh…" Sahara embarrassedly began to reach for her shirt. "It's nothing. Don't wor-" Zakuro cut her off by placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Let me see," she said softly.

Sahara shifted uncomfortably, but reluctantly turned so that Zakuro could see her back. Zakuro took in a small gasp of air.

"It's nothing, okay? It's all over with so it doesn't matter."

Pudding observed Sahara's back as well. "You've got a lot of scratches, nee-chan."

Zakuro lightly traced a large scar between Sahara's shoulder blades, and Sahara grimaced at Pudding's words. "It's okay. Really," she urged.

Before Pudding could reply, the locker room door banged open. "Hi, girls! Did you miss me?" cried Hikaru enthusiastically. He was rapidly bombarded by a barrage of clothing and one shoe (courtesy of Sahara) and screeches of "YOU PERVERT!" and "Hikaru!!"

With a shift motion Ichigo, who was closest to the door, pushed it shut, along with Hikaru.

Sahara laughed. "Haru-nee, you should go an attend to your 'boyfriend'."

Haru shot her a look. "He's not my boyfriend." And then softly she added so only Sahara could hear, "Not yet." and she winked as she pulled on the rest of her clothes and left the room.

Lettuce smiled. "Well, that was entertaining."

---

As the girls departed from the café Sahara talked to Kotoko on the side. "We'll meet tomorrow morning at 6:30. The plane flight is at 7:45, so hopefully we can get through security in time."

"And we'll meet in front of the café, right?" Kotoko whispered back.

"Yeah." She took a step backwards to join the group headed toward the Fong's house. "See you tomorrow!" she called.

Kotoko did a little wave and smiled.

Sahara quickly caught up to her group. Hikaru stood comfortably next to Haru, who was blushing slightly. Pudding was doing cartwheels on the sidewalk. "We can go!"

The group began walking in the direction of Pudding's house. "Hikaru-kun, I hope you've learned not to burst into the changing room to do that."

Hikaru grinned sheepishly. He winked at Haru and said, "Yeah, I've learned that I have to do it more quietly." His retort earned him a punch on the arm. "Ow! Jeez, you don't go easy on me do you?"

"Nope," was Haru's simple reply. "If I had Suzume, I'd smack you with him."

"I think you should be more gentle with me."

"Maybe some other time."

Sahara and Pudding exchanged glances before they both began to laugh.

Halfway to the Fong residence, Hikaru parted from them. Haru stayed with him for a second, and sent Pudding and Sahara ahead. Haru shook her head and sighed. "You can be so impossible, Hikaru-kun."

"Only for you," he returned, smiling as he joked. He softly brushed away a few stray pieces of hair from her face. Haru flushed. "You're cute when you blush," Hikaru observed, wiggling his eyebrows. The red and black haired girl slapped his arm lightly. "See, I knew you could be more gentle!" cried the boy in triumph.

"You got a lucky chance," Haru muttered.

Hikaru leaned down close to her ear. "I don't think so," he whispered into her ear. Haru blushed an even deeper shade of red. The redhead pulled back a bit and let their foreheads meet. When Haru's face became darker and darker, Hikaru finally closed the distance between them. He kissed her gently at first, and then moved his hands around her waist. Haru moved her arms up to his chest.

Much to the girl's surprise, Hikaru broke the kiss as suddenly as it began. To her utter embarrassment, she let out a slight groan of annoyance, which made Hikaru smirk. "You _so_ want me." As Haru opened her mouth to fire back an angry reply, his swiftly cut her off in another kiss. Her knees shook slightly until he pulled off again. "See you tomorrow," the boy said suggestively.

Haru stood and watched him go, speechless.

---

Sahara had slipped a bunch of her supplies into a bag that she hid in the nearest closet. She looked around, and when no one was watching she slipped into the closet and stuffed a handful of clothes, maps and personal hygiene items. She also added a notebook and a pack of note cards. She slid out of the closet just as easily as she had gone in.

As she walked back to the living room, she passed a still red Haru. She raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner, but Haru didn't meet her gaze. The dirty-blonde haired girl shrugged and went to sit down and the dinner table.

---

Sahara let out a soft swearword as her watch began to beep quietly, telling her that the time had arrived for her to wake up. Stealthily, though she was tired, she stopped the watch and slid towards the bathroom. 6:05 in the morning was not her ideal time to wake up. Moving quickly, the snake-girl pulled on her capris and light red t-shirt. She squeezed some drops of the liquid that Ryou had given her into her eyes and placed it with her pajamas. Wondering about the outside temperature, she opened the window and let the cool wind blow in her face. She shivered and grabbed the tan zip-up hoodie she had borrowed from Pudding. In fact, she had to borrow a bunch of clothing from Pudding for herself and Kotoko, as they were all roughly the same size. Kotoko had a limited clothing supply, so she hoped Pudding wouldn't mind.

Looking both ways as she opened the door, she stepped soundlessly into the hallway. Halfway down the hallway she froze as a small voice inquired, "Sahara-nee-chan?"

Sahara whirled around and let out a sigh of relief. It was only Hanacha. "What is it?" she asked the small girl.

"What are you doing, na no da?" Pudding's siblings had also picked up on Pudding's catchphrase.

Sahara ruffled the younger girl's hair. "I'm just going for a walk. I'll be back soon, okay? Anyway, are you just going to the bathroom?"

"Yes, na no da!" stage whispered the monkey-girl's sister back.

"Make sure to be quiet."

"Okay, na no da."

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind Hanacha, Sahara darted to the closet and pulled out her duffle bag, jamming the eye color nullifier and her pajamas into it. She went to the front door, opened it and shut it silently behind her. The blonde straightened her jacket, as she realized that it was cooler that morning then most July mornings. She walked away from the house and when she reached the sidewalk she smiled appreciatively back at the house. "See you soon!" she called softly at the home. A quiet voice in the back of the girl's mind whispered, '_If you even make it back,'_ but the girl brushed it away.

Sahara began her slow jog in the direction of Café Mew Mew.

---

"This sucks," muttered the disgruntled boy. David was not very enthusiastic about being up this early. Especially when it was cooler outside.

"I don't see why this couldn't wait," he grumbled to himself as he carried a package down the street towards the post office. The brunette recalled what forced him to be up at the early hour.

His mother had woken him up cheerfully, singing, "Wakey-wakey, David-kun!" David had just groaned and rolled over. "I need you to deliver a package for me!" chirped his mom.

He groaned and sat up. "Why can't it wait?" he groaned.

"David-kun, the package is for your aunt's birthday and I want it to get there as soon as possible. The post office opens at 6:15 and I want you to be there so that they can delivered the package as soon as possible!"

"Isn't her birthday not for a week or so?"

"Why of course not, silly! It's in two days!"

David rubbed his eyes unhappily. "I could swear it was later…"

"Why wouldn't I know my own sister's birthday, David-kun?" she sang sweetly. She lifted his mattress so he fell off the bed. He let out a cry as he hit the ground. "Hurry up, sweetie!"

David moaned and pulled himself out of the sheets that had fallen onto of him. "Fine, fine."

David sighed. His mother had hurried him along and handed him a bagel and bribed him with a large breakfast when he got home. He shifted the package in his arms. '_What did she put in here? Bricks?'_

He looked around at the other people walking around him. Most of them were businessmen and women walking on their way to work. He saw some college students who looked like they had just spent the night partying. As he walked grudgingly down the street, he continued to look around at the Tokyo morning workpeople's' migration. His eyes darted around and locked on a familiar head on the other side of the street. "Sahara-chan?" he called loudly to get her attention. The dark-blonde head shot up in his direction.

"David-kun?"

He moved through the small crowd of people, looked both ways, and darted across the street to get to her. She slowed down her pace to meet him. "What are you doing out here?" she asked.

"I think I should be asking you the same question," he replied, smiling. Sahara's nose and cheeks were draped with pale pink. _'Is she blushing?'_ he observed silently.

Sahara stared in wonder at him. "L-let's move out of the way," she managed, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him out of the path of people. She let out a quiet sigh, hoping he wouldn't hear. She was shocked to see him out this early, and was even more shocked at her reaction to seeing him. Her heart had sped up, and she began to breathe heavier then usual. It was the same feeling that she got after running a mile at full speed. The girl scolded herself mentally. '_You shouldn't freak out just because you look at him._'

Noticing David's gaze on her, she flinched mentally. "Umm… I asked first," she started.

He grinned. "I guess so." He moved the package in his hands so she could see it better. "My mom had the sudden urge for me to drop this off when the post office opens so it will reach my aunt in time for her birthday. Moms," he said, answering his questions.

"Oh… I see."

"And you?" he questioned curiously.

"Ahh. Right!" She shifted her duffle bag uncomfortably. "I'm going, uh... 'home' for a while, so I need to catch my flight. I don't know when I'll get back."

"Home?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, at least where I was raised," she replied.

"I guess your catching the 'red-eye' flight, huh?"

"I guess so," she said, smiling slightly.

An awkward silence hovered between the two teens. Sahara shuffled her foot on the pavement and played with her transformation pendant in her pocket while sneaking glances at him. David stared at the building behind the girl.

David finally broke the silence. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you. Sorry for holding you up."

Sahara looked at him, startled. The tiny voice from before came back. '_What if you don't see him again?_' it whispered evilly. She desperately tried to push it away. Her voice came out sounding a bit odd and thick. "Sure; no problem." She fiddled with the strap of her bag. As David turned to go back to the other side of the street, she hesitated. The little voice got louder, chanting the possibility of not seeing him again in front of her. A split second decision carried her body forwards at the brunette boy and put her hand on his shoulder. When David turned his head to face her, she leaned up and pushed her lips against his.

When realization of what she was doing hit her like a ton of bricks, she pulled away and threw a, "Bye!" in David's direction. She turned on her heel and began to hurtle through the crowd of people.

David blinked as he watched her leave. "Maybe that was worth getting up for," he decided out loud.

Sahara squeezed her eyes shut tightly and then opened them again. '_Focus!'_ she urged herself. She slowly poured on the speed as she rocketed in the direction of Café Mew Mew.

----------

**-runs to hide in shed from angry mob-**

**I hope that's long enough to make up for being gone sooooooooooo long. I'm sacrificing my homework right now to finally wrap up this chapter. My dad isn't to happy with me spending four plus hours doing my 'homework', so I hope you are all grateful. I don't know if he'll let me use the computer whenever anymore. **

**Anyway, on a lighter note, how are you guys all doing? Well, I hope. Please send me suggestions of good fanfictions to read; I can't stand all the bad grammar and n0ob stories much longer.**

**I hope to see you guys in the next chapter. Because I love to end things on a cliffhanger like ending. :D**

**Leave a review if you feel like it. (You know you want to.)**

**I give you all a virtual cookie for reading. –smiles- Man, 29 pages in word, double spaced. Holy guacamole. **

**Oh crap, the mob is breaking in. Got to go! Chao!**

**(By the way, if there are any spelling mistakes, I know. I very rarely check over my writing. I will, one of these days, because I don't want to be a bad authoress. See you all soon, I hope!)**


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